Conduit Sues Tether Over $2.76 Million USDT Freeze
Cross-border payments firm Conduit Technology has filed a lawsuit against Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, claiming that Tether froze $2.76 million of its USDT without proper justification. The lawsuit, submitted to a U.S. federal court in New York, alleges that Tether froze Conduit’s treasury wallet in September 2025 following a Brazilian police investigation involving a former Conduit customer, Onix Intermediações. Conduit asserts that the funds in question were its own working capital and that Brazilian authorities did not specifically request the freezing of its wallet.
Conduit is seeking the release of the frozen funds and is demanding at least $2.76 million in damages. The lawsuit adds to growing legal challenges against Tether’s practice of freezing USDT in response to law enforcement requests. A separate case involved two Thai nationals who challenged the freezing of $42.4 million in USDT after an informal request by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.
The case highlights ongoing debates about the ability of stablecoin issuers to freeze funds and its implications for privacy in decentralized finance (DeFi). It also follows Tether’s voluntary freezing of $225 million in stolen USDT, the largest such freeze in history.