TLDR
- Tether says its exposure to EQIBank is less than 0.034% of its total group assets.
- US prosecutors seized roughly $84.2 million tied to EQIBank’s payment processor, Capstone.
- Based on Tether’s $187.75 billion in assets, the exposure could reach about $64 million.
- EQIBank says it lost access to about $89 million, or 80% of its monetary holdings.
- Tether has a reserve surplus of about $4.11 billion, limiting the risk to USDT’s peg.
Tether has confirmed a small financial link to EQIBank, a bank licensed in Dominica that is now caught up in a US asset seizure case. The stablecoin issuer said the exposure represents less than 0.034% of its total group assets.
🚨BREAKING: US seizes bank accounts tied to a Tether-linked payments firm, FT reports.
The firm, Capstone, is accused by the DOJ of illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars for Tether and Bitfinex through EQIBank, a small Caribbean bank.
Capstone allegedly opened US… pic.twitter.com/9EIgFFfTfg
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) September 25, 2026
The case centers on Capstone Limited, a Montana-based payment processor that worked with EQIBank. US prosecutors allege Capstone acted as an unlicensed money transmitter and misrepresented its business to banks.
A civil forfeiture complaint was filed in the Eastern District of California on July 15. A court order dated September 14 detailed the accounts and funds involved.
What Prosecutors Seized
Court documents list about $79.11 million held in a Wells Fargo Securities account under Capstone’s name. Another $1.86 million sat in a separate Wells Fargo account.
Roughly $2.06 million was held at JPMorgan Chase. Prosecutors also listed about 1.18 million USDT spread across two crypto addresses.
Combined, the seized assets total close to $84.2 million. Capstone has denied any wrongdoing in the case.
EQIBank has said the seizure affected about $89 million, which it says equals roughly 80% of its monetary assets. The bank has warned this could push it toward liquidation.
Tether and Bitfinex both confirmed they were EQIBank customers. Both companies said they had no knowledge of the conduct prosecutors allege against Capstone.
How Big Is the Risk to Tether
Tether reported $187.75 billion in total assets as of June 30. It reported $183.64 billion in liabilities on the same date.
That leaves a reserve surplus of about $4.11 billion. Even at the top end of its stated exposure ceiling, EQIBank-related funds would equal less than 1.6% of that surplus.
USDT circulation stood at about $184.6 billion at the end of the quarter. Its market capitalization remains near $184 billion.
The disclosure does not point to an immediate problem with USDT’s dollar peg. Tether has not shared the exact dollar figure tied to EQIBank or said how much of it is currently frozen.
The case highlights a separate kind of risk for stablecoin issuers. Reserve assets can be safe in value but still become temporarily stuck when a banking partner faces legal trouble.
Tether keeps much of its reserves in short-term US government debt and repurchase agreements rather than bank deposits. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has pointed to this structure when explaining why USDT has not sought authorization under Europe’s MiCA rules, which require larger bank-held reserves.
The EQIBank case shows why that distinction matters. A bank holding a small piece of a stablecoin issuer’s operations can still disrupt redemptions or transfers if it loses access to its accounts.
For now, the exposure appears too small to threaten USDT’s backing. The bigger open questions are how much of the EQIBank funds are frozen, whether the bank recovers them, and whether Tether needs to adjust any banking relationships tied to the case going forward.
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