Conduit Takes Tether to Court Over $2.76 Million in Frozen USDT

Cross border payments company Conduit Technology has accused stablecoin issuer Tether of freezing $2.76 million in USDT without explanation. The complaint, filed Monday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, says Conduit began holding the stablecoin in its digital treasury wallet in May 2025.

Tether then froze the entire balance in September, which Conduit says materially hurt its business. The company argues Tether has no legal entitlement or claim to the money and cannot take funds from businesses simply because they chose to store them in its currency. Conduit also says it has asked repeatedly for the funds to be released, and they remained frozen as of Monday.

Brazil Police Investigation Behind the Freeze

According to the filing, the freeze was linked to a Brazilian federal police investigation opened in 2024 into the financial intermediary Bull Intermediação de Negócios and Onix. Conduit alleges Tether tied its treasury wallet to those companies on its own initiative, using its own criteria, and froze the funds on Sept. 24, 2025. Tether had not responded to a request for comment on the suit.

Growing Legal Pressure Over Tether Freezes

The case comes about a month after two Thai nationals sued Tether over a $42.4 million freeze. They say it followed an informal request from US Homeland Security Investigations and was tied to a $61 million pig butchering case in the Eastern District of North Carolina, where a court issued a seizure warrant for the funds in February.