Conduit Sues Tether Over $2.76M USDT Freeze Without Explanation

Cross-border payments platform Conduit Technology has filed a lawsuit against stablecoin issuer Tether in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Tether froze $2.76 million in USDT without justification. The complaint claims the funds were held in Conduit's digital treasury wallet starting in May 2025, and were frozen on September 24, 2025, with no legal explanation provided.

According to the lawsuit, Tether identified Conduit's treasury wallet as tied to the Brazilian financial intermediary Bull Intermediação de Negócios and Onix, both subjects of a Brazilian federal police investigation launched in 2024. Conduit alleges that Tether made this association "on its own initiative using its own criteria" and proceeded to freeze the stablecoin holdings despite having "no legal entitlement" or "no claim" to the funds. "Tether is not allowed to take money from businesses just because they chose to store that money in Tether's currency," the complaint stated.

Conduit said it has repeatedly requested that Tether unfreeze the assets, but the company had not complied as of the filing date. The lawsuit comes roughly one month after two Thai nationals sued Tether for allegedly freezing $42.4 million in USDT following what they described as an "informal request" from US Homeland Security Investigations. That case was tied to a $61 million pig butchering scheme, with a seizure warrant issued by the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in February. Cointelegraph reached out to Tether for comment but did not receive an immediate response.