Conduit sues Tether over $2.76M USDt freeze, saying it got no explanation
Payments platform Conduit takes Tether to court over frozen USDt
Conduit Technology, a cross-border payments platform, has sued stablecoin issuer Tether in a US court. Conduit says Tether froze $2.76 million in USDt (USDT) held in its treasury wallet without explanation. USDt is a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value, usually tied to the US dollar.
The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to Cointelegraph, which reviewed the filing.
Key points from the complaint
- Conduit says Tether froze $2.76 million in USDt from its digital treasury wallet in September 2025.
- Conduit says it started holding USDt in that wallet in May 2025.
- The lawsuit links the freeze to a Brazilian federal police investigation opened in 2024.
- Conduit says it has asked Tether to unfreeze the funds and that Tether had not done so as of the filing.
- Tether did not give Cointelegraph an immediate response when asked for comment on the lawsuit.
What Conduit says Tether did
According to the complaint, Tether froze funds belonging to Conduit to which it had "no legal entitlement" and "no claim." Conduit said Tether froze all $2.76 million with "no justification," an action Conduit says materially affected its business.
The complaint states: "The funds are unequivocally Conduit's, but Tether has taken them and is denying Conduit access to them." It adds: "Tether is not allowed to take money from businesses just because they chose to store that money in Tether's currency."
Conduit also said it repeatedly asked Tether to release the funds, without success as of the time the lawsuit was filed.
Link to a Brazilian police investigation
The lawsuit says the freeze was connected to a Brazilian federal police investigation launched in 2024 into the financial intermediary Bull Intermediação de Negócios and Onix. According to the complaint, Tether identified Conduit's treasury wallet as tied to those companies "on its own initiative using its own criteria," and froze the $2.76 million on Sept. 24, 2025.
Another freeze lawsuit filed about a month earlier
The Conduit case came about a month after two Thai nationals sued Tether over an alleged freeze of $42.4 million in USDt. Those plaintiffs said the freeze followed what they called an "informal request" from US Homeland Security Investigations.
Their funds were allegedly part of a $61 million "pig butchering" case. Pig butchering is a type of scam in which victims are persuaded to send money over time. That case was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, which issued a seizure warrant for the USDt in February, according to the report.
What is confirmed so far
A complaint has been filed by Conduit against Tether in the Southern District of New York, and Cointelegraph reports it reviewed the filing. The dollar figures and dates above come from Conduit's account of events in that complaint. Tether has not responded publicly through Cointelegraph's request for comment.
What is not yet known
The allegations in the complaint are Conduit's claims and have not been proven in court, based on the available material. It is not clear from the source whether Tether disputes the claims, whether the funds have since been released, or how the court will handle the case.
Sources
Newisty Editorial Team covers technology, cryptocurrency, digital products, online platforms, developer tools and the wider digital economy. Our content is researched from official sources, company announcements, public documentation, market data and other primary or reputable sources. Articles are reviewed and edited before publication for clarity, accuracy and useful context.