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Freeze & blacklist capability

Regulation & issuer

Whether the issuer can freeze balances or blacklist addresses on-chain. Standard for compliant fiat-backed tokens; absent in decentralised designs.

Freeze functions let issuers comply with sanctions and law-enforcement orders, and recover stolen funds. That is a feature for institutions and a risk for users who require censorship resistance.

The trade-off is explicit: the same key that can freeze a hacker can freeze you. Decentralised alternatives remove that key and, with it, any recourse.

Why it matters

This is a preference, not a defect — but it should be a conscious choice matched to your use case.

See it in action

Related terms

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