Tether says it had limited exposure to a bank linked to a seizure of $84 million by United States authorities.

Tether said it has limited exposure through assets held at EQIBank after reports linked the stablecoin issuer and Bitfinex to a Montana-based payments business named in a Department of Justice civil forfeiture complaint. The company told Cointelegraph it had “no knowledge” of the alleged conduct and said the amount held at EQIBank represented 0.034% of the group’s total assets. The statement puts a measurable scale on reports that US prosecutors froze about $84 million in Capstone’s accounts as part of the complaint.

What Tether disclosed

Tether confirmed it was a customer of EQIBank. The bank was described in reports as the institution that the Justice Department allegedly directed Capstone, the payments company, to send and receive money. The company did not detail the dollar value of the assets held at EQIBank, but the 0.034% figure shows the exposure was very small relative to the group’s total assets.

The spokesperson’s response addressed reports that connected Tether and Bitfinex to Capstone through a civil forfeiture complaint. Tether said it had “no knowledge” of the alleged conduct, a position that separates its public statement from the accusations described in the reporting. The reports also said the payments company was allegedly used to move hundreds of millions of dollars.

What the reports alleged

The Financial Times reported that Department of Justice officials alleged the business was unlicensed and had made payments to hundreds of individuals and entities on behalf of Tether and Bitfinex. US prosecutors reportedly froze about $84 million in Capstone’s accounts as part of the complaint. Those details describe the government’s case against the payments business, not a finding that Tether or Bitfinex committed wrongdoing.

Tether’s statement focused on its exposure through assets held at EQIBank. It did not address whether customers of the USDT stablecoin could be affected by the reported seizure. A spokesperson did not respond to a question about how the seizure could affect its customers.

Why the number matters

For readers tracking stablecoins, the market value of USDT is a key reference point. As of Friday, USDT had a market capitalization of about $184 billion. The 0.034% disclosure does not show the exact amount held at EQIBank, but it allows the bank relationship to be compared with the group’s overall asset base.

The reports also connect two separate entities: Tether, the issuer of USDT, and Bitfinex, the exchange named alongside it in the complaint. Tether’s response did not change the status of those allegations. It added a quantified detail about its customer relationship with EQIBank while leaving unanswered questions about customer impact and the relationship between the frozen Capstone funds and Tether or Bitfinex.

A related report said South Korea police were drafting crypto seizure rules after custody lapses. That item was not part of Tether’s statement.