In what appears to be the first of it's kind, Centre, issuer of USDC, a stablecoin (or if you are FATF a "so-called stablecoin") with over US$1BN in issued tokens, has blacklisted a digital wallet address.
The Block Crypto reports that Centre said:
Centre can confirm it blacklisted an address in response to a request from law enforcement.
While we cannot comment on the specifics of law enforcement requests, Centre complies with binding court orders that have appropriate jurisdiction over the organization.
A month ago a user posted a comment for the wallet address in question alleging that the address contained funds stolen from him (albeit far less funds than the amount presently in the wallet):
The address had almost USD$100,000 of USDC at the time it was blacklisted and as a result of the blacklisting the wallet holder will be unable to transaction on the wallet.
This move is analogous to a bank freezing access to an account when requested to do so by law enforcement and appears to be what has occurred in this instance. Naturally, the more libertarian minded digital currency enthusiasts have used this opportunity to point out that Dai and Tether stable coins have less to no ability for regulatory intervention.
However, it seems to us that given the long history of the legal system needing the power to intervene in payments and seize assets, that a stablecoin or Central Bank Digital Currency will likely need to have blacklist functions to be acceptable to find widespread acceptance.