Tether Funds Trapped as Offshore Partner EQIBank Faces Liquidation Over US Asset Seizure

Tether $USDT currently has funds trapped at EQIBank, a digital bank licensed in Dominica that is fighting to recover approximately $89M seized by US authorities. The US seizure, tied to a payment processor called Capstone Ltd, wiped out roughly 80% of EQIBank’s total monetary holdings, placing the offshore bank at serious risk of liquidation. EQIBank's own filings reveal that the frozen funds were actually sitting inside accounts at major US institutions, specifically Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase. Tether claims its exposure is limited to less than 0.034% of its total assets, though it has not directly confirmed the original report or disclosed a specific dollar amount for the trapped capital. With Tether’s total reserves sitting close to $190B, mostly in US Treasuries, the isolated EQIBank freeze isn't a systemic threat, but it highlights the completely unknown scale of Tether's broader offshore banking exposure.