An $84 million US asset seizure just sparked a massive question for Tether

Tether has disclosed exposure to EQIBank as the bank fights a US seizure involving payment processor Capstone Limited, raising a question about access to assets that might back USDT. On Sept. 25, the stablecoin issuer told PYMNTS the exposure was less than 0.034% of the Tether group's assets. It gave no dollar balance or indication that the money is part of USDT reserves.

The government filed a civil forfeiture complaint in July. A court record lists about $83.03 million in three bank balances and roughly 1.18 million USDT at two addresses. Combined at a $1 value for each USDT, that is about $84.2 million. A subsequent court order identifies the bank accounts as held in Capstone's name. It does not identify the listed property as Tether's.

EQIBank sought the return of seized property in a separate but related action. A court record shows that its motion was denied. That denial did not decide the ultimate forfeiture case or establish who owns the property. The government's claim to the assets remains distinct from Tether's undisclosed exposure to the bank.

The denominator in Tether's statement matters. Its less-than-0.034% figure concerns group assets, while its published USDT reserve figures describe Tether International, an issuer entity, on a different date. Tether has not supplied a figure that bridges the two.

As of June 30, Tether International reported $187.75 billion in assets and $183.64 billion in liabilities, an excess of $4.11 billion. Its underlying attestation describes the issuer's position at that point in time and does not identify an EQIBank balance. The June excess is useful context for the scale of the issuer's reported backing, but it cannot tell holders how much the Tether group had at EQIBank in September or whether those funds remain accessible.