Stablecoin operator Tether has announced that its financial vulnerability to a lender recently intercepted by American law enforcement on Thursday is extremely minimal.
Tether clarified that the funds kept with EQIBank make up less than 0.034% of its overall holdings, following the Dominica-chartered institution becoming entangled in a U.S. asset seizure that could potentially push it into liquidation, based on coverage from the Financial Times and The Information.
“Tether had no knowledge of the conduct by Capstone alleged by the Department of Justice,” a representative for Tether mentioned to CoinDesk via electronic mail. The corporation stated that the funds maintained at EQIBank were restricted to “less than 0.034% of the assets of the group,” though it omitted the precise monetary value.
Drawing from Tether’s June report documenting $187.75 billion in consolidated assets, the percentage noted by the representative would equate the EQIBank exposure to approximately $64 million.
EQIBank utilized Capstone, an American payment handler, to store reserves and transfer client capital via deposits at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, according to judicial documentation. United States authorities confiscated money residing in those Capstone accounts and instituted a civil forfeiture lawsuit, asserting that Capstone misrepresented its operations to the banking institutions.
EQIBank declares that roughly $89 million was impounded, corresponding to about 80% of its total cash reserves, thereby placing the institution in jeopardy of winding up, as per the FT.
EQIBank offered banking solutions to Tether, which involved handling wire movements tied to the acquisition and redemption processes of USDT. Tether verified its restricted exposure to EQIBank yet refrained from revealing the financial worth, as noted by The Information.
This disclosure does not signal any imminent danger to USDT’s underlying reserves or its parity with the dollar. Nevertheless, it underscores the inherent counterparty dangers within the ecosystem of banking entities that assist stablecoin creators in facilitating user deposits and withdrawals.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/25/tether-confirms-minimal-eqibank-exposure-following-usd89m-us-asset-seizure.
