US Prosecutors Seize Bank Accounts Tied to Tether Payment Firm

Federal prosecutors in the United States have seized bank accounts belonging to Capstone, a payments business that acts on behalf of stablecoin issuer Tether and its sister exchange Bitfinex, according to a Financial Times report.

The move puts a fresh spotlight on the intermediaries that connect digital asset firms to the conventional banking system. Crypto companies have long struggled to secure and retain banking relationships, and specialist payment providers often step in where traditional lenders are unwilling to take on the compliance burden attached to the sector.

Tether issues the largest stablecoin by market value and shares close ownership and management links with Bitfinex. Both have operated for years under intense regulatory scrutiny, though the reported seizure concerns Capstone's accounts rather than the two crypto firms directly.

Details of the seizure, including its scope and the legal basis behind it, were not spelled out in the initial report, and no allegations against Capstone were disclosed. The development nonetheless underscores how enforcement attention can reach the payment layer of the crypto industry, an area where oversight has tightened as stablecoins have grown more central to digital asset trading and settlement.