Fintech Firm Conduit Seeks Court Order to Unfreeze $2.76M in USDT Reserves

Cross-border payment infrastructure operator Conduit has filed a court petition targeting stablecoin provider Tether over $2.76M frozen USDT held in its corporate treasury. The payments firm is seeking immediate judicial intervention to regain control of its operational wallet, arguing that the protracted loss of working capital has hindered its capacity to finalize routine client settlements.

As reported by The Defiant, Conduit contends that Tether acted autonomously when blacklisting the address, pointing to an investigation in Brazil that does not involve Conduit's operations. The lawsuit emphasizes the significant commercial harm caused by the lock, asserting that enterprise infrastructure providers depend on predictable, unimpeded access to their stablecoin liquidity pools for cross-border treasury management.

Smart contract blacklisting is a common compliance mechanism used by major centralized stablecoin operators to comply with sanction orders and coordinate with judicial authorities. Nonetheless, the dispute underscores the operational risks facing Web3 payment processors that rely entirely on centralized fiat-backed tokens for their corporate balance sheets and customer settlement pipelines.

The litigation will be monitored by compliance professionals and decentralized finance developers seeking clarity on judicial remedies available to fintechs facing sudden wallet freezes. Future developments in the case will reveal whether Tether will be ordered to restore access or provide detailed justification for the blacklist.