Cross-border payment company Conduit sued Tether, demanding the unfreezing of 2.76 million USDT

The cross-border payment company Conduit has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, accusing the stablecoin issuer Tether of freezing its $2.76 million in funds and refusing to unfreeze or provide any explanation. Conduit states that its USDT has been locked for over a year. The complaint claims, "Conduit owes no money to Tether and has no obligations to Tether."

Conduit uses stablecoins, including Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, to transfer funds across more than 100 countries. The lawsuit states that the wallet frozen by Tether is equivalent to Conduit's "operating bank account." This freeze reportedly stems from an investigation involving Conduit's former client Onix Intermediações, which was received by the Brazilian Federal Police. However, Conduit claims that law enforcement has confirmed it never requested the freezing of the payment service provider's funds wallet, and it is unclear why Tether took action; a Brazilian court also confirmed that Conduit is not under investigation related to the Onix Intermediações case.

According to the complaint, Onix has not used the Conduit platform since April 2025, about a month before the creation of that funds wallet, and that wallet has never held any funds from Onix. Since the wallet is used to support company operations, Conduit states that its business has been affected, while Tether continues to earn interest on the reserves behind the frozen USDT.