Freeze and seize

Early access

Stablecoin issuance is in early access. It's a paid module and is available on request. Contact your Account Manager to get access.

Your compliance team can freeze

an address holding your stablecoin. A frozen address cannot send or receive your stablecoin on that network. You may later unfreeze the address or seize its funds.

Each freeze opens a compliance case

. The case records the address, basis and reason for the freeze, legal basis, and all actions taken. The case remains open until the address is unfrozen.

You need the issuance:operator role to freeze and unfreeze addresses, and seize funds.

Freeze an address

Portal

To freeze an address, follow these steps:

1. In the Layer1 Portal, go to Issuance > Freeze and seize and click Freeze address.

2. Complete the fields:

   • Under Reason, select Compliance investigation, Law-enforcement request, or Other.
   • Select the Token / Smart Contract: your stablecoin on the network to freeze on.
   • Enter the Address.
   • For a Law-enforcement request, enter the Legal basis, such as a court order.
   • Enter the Case reference or click Suggest to generate one.
   

3. Click Freeze.

The case appears in the list. Its status updates to Frozen once the freeze is on-chain.

API

To freeze an address, send a POST /issuance/v1/compliance-cases request. The layer1:issuance:compliance:edit scope is required.

Request

{
  "asset": "EXUSD",
  "network": "ETHEREUM",
  "address": "0x3B7e9D1f5A2c4E6b8D0a1C3e5F7b9A2d4C6e8F01",
  "basis": "LAW_ENFORCEMENT",
  "reason": "Court order received",
  "caseReference": "CASE-2026-0042",
  "legalBasis": "Court order 12/2026"
}

basis can be COMPLIANCE, LAW_ENFORCEMENT, or OTHER. A LAW_ENFORCEMENT freeze requires both caseReference and legalBasis.

Layer1 opens the case with the status FREEZE_REQUESTED and responds with 202. The case updates to FROZEN once the freeze is on-chain. To track the case, send a GET /issuance/v1/compliance-cases/{caseId} request.

Unfreeze an address

You can unfreeze a frozen address, including those with seized funds.

Portal

To unfreeze an address, follow these steps:

1. In the Layer1 Portal, go to Issuance > Freeze and seize.
2. In the row of the case, open the menu (⋮) and click Unfreeze address.
3. Enter the reason and confirm.

API

To unfreeze an address, send a POST /issuance/v1/compliance-cases/actions request with an UNFREEZE action. The layer1:issuance:compliance:edit scope is required.

Request

{
  "actions": [
    {
      "type": "UNFREEZE",
      "complianceCaseId": "019a3c8f-5e2d-7b41-8c96-4a1f6e2d9b57",
      "reason": "Investigation closed"
    }
  ]
}

Once the unfreeze is on-chain, the case status is UNFROZEN and closed. The address can then send and receive your stablecoin.

Seize funds

Seizing transfers the entire balance of a frozen address into quarantine

. The address remains frozen. Seizing is available only if your stablecoin was configured to allow it.

Portal

To seize the funds of a frozen address, follow these steps:

1. In the Layer1 Portal, go to Issuance > Freeze and seize.

2. In the row of the case, open the menu (⋮) and click Seize into quarantine.

3. Enter the Reason.

4. Review the Recipient address. It is pre-filled with a new quarantine wallet for this case, but you may change it.

   

5. Click Seize.

To remove the seized funds from circulation, open the case menu (⋮) and click Burn quarantined funds.

API

To seize the funds of a frozen address, send a POST /issuance/v1/compliance-cases/actions request with a SEIZE action. The layer1:issuance:compliance:edit scope is required.

Request

{
  "actions": [
    {
      "type": "SEIZE",
      "complianceCaseId": "019a3c8f-5e2d-7b41-8c96-4a1f6e2d9b57",
      "reason": "Seizure ordered by court, warrant 12/2026"
    }
  ]
}

Send one action per request. If you omit recipientAddress, Layer1 creates a new address for this case in your Quarantine asset pool and seizes the funds there.

Once the seizure is on-chain, the case status is SEIZED.

Case statuses

To retry a failed action via the API, send a POST /issuance/v1/compliance-cases/actions request with a FREEZE, UNFREEZE, or SEIZE action for the case. For a complete list of statuses, see the status field of Get compliance case.