Tether has disclosed exposure to EQIBank as the bank fights a US asset seizure tied to payment processor Capstone Limited. The stablecoin issuer says the exposure is under 0.034% of group assets, but it has not said whether any of the seized funds are linked to USDT reserves.
Tether has disclosed exposure to EQIBank as the bank fights a US seizure involving payment processor Capstone Limited, raising a question about access to assets that might back USDT. On Sept. 25, the stablecoin issuer told PYMNTS the exposure was less than 0.034% of the Tether group's assets. It gave no dollar balance or indication that the money is part of USDT reserves.
The forfeiture case and Tether's link to it
The government filed a civil forfeiture complaint in July. A court record lists about $83.03 million in three bank balances and roughly 1.18 million USDT at two addresses, which combined at a $1 value for each USDT comes to about $84.2 million. However, a subsequent court order identifies the bank accounts as held in Capstone's name, not Tether's.
EQIBank separately sought the return of seized property, but that motion was denied — a decision that did not resolve the forfeiture case or establish who owns the property.
Why the reserve link remains unproven
Tether's less-than-0.034% figure concerns group assets, while its published USDT reserve figures describe Tether International, an issuer entity, on a different date. Tether has not supplied a figure bridging the two. As of June 30, Tether International reported $187.75 billion in assets and $183.64 billion in liabilities, an excess of $4.11 billion, and the underlying attestation covering that date does not identify an EQIBank balance.
A bank dispute becomes a redemption issue if it blocks an issuer from using funds needed to meet requests. Yet the Capstone filing does not trace any seized balances into Tether International's USDT reserves, and Tether's exposure statement does not say minting or redemptions have been interrupted. That leaves a counterparty-access question, not an established shortfall or halt.
For holders, what matters next is the size and legal owner of Tether's EQIBank balance, whether any of it belongs to USDT reserves, and whether Tether can still access it.
Source: CryptoSlate
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