HTX investigates “toxic USDT” transfers as EU sanctions on the exchange take effect on 23 August

HTX is looking into small USDT transfers that appeared on user wallets in transactions tagged as coming from the exchange. For PSPs, exchanges, and compliance teams, the awkward part is not just the source tag — it is that even tiny transfers can trigger source-of-funds checks, account reviews, and platform-wide friction.

1. HTX says it has started an internal review after users reported unexpected small USDT credits from blockchain addresses marked as HTX wallets. The exchange says it has not found any official transfers or test transactions originating from its side.
2. The company suspects the transfers may be a crypto dust attack, also known as address poisoning, where scammers send tiny transfers from lookalike addresses so a later copy-paste mistake routes funds to the wrong place. HTX says it is also checking whether address-labeling or transaction-attribution errors could have made the transfers look as if they came from the platform.
3. HTX has not disclosed the list of transactions or the number of affected users. On Wednesday, 18 August, a user on X posting under the handle 0xZiy said he received 7.5 USDT from HTX into a Coinbase account, after which Coinbase asked for source-of-funds information and warned the account could be blocked if no explanation was provided. Other users replied with screenshots of similar transfers, and some said they faced restrictions on other crypto exchanges afterward.
4. In the end of July, HTX, which was founded in China and registered in Seychelles, was included in the European Union’s 21st sanctions package. EU authorities said the exchange provides services that help Russian authorities and businesses circumvent sanctions. The restrictions take effect on 23 August.
5. HTX still accepts customers from Russia: registration is available, verification can be completed with an internal passport, and a ruble-denominated p2p platform remains active. In August, Binance said it would stop processing transactions involving HTX.

For high-risk operators, the operational takeaway is simple: a wallet tag, a dust transfer, and a sanctions-linked counterparty are enough to put payments and compliance teams into incident mode, even when the transfer amount is only 7.5 USDT.