Altura says £16.446 million bank account freeze blocks planned USDT OTC purchase

Altura said a bank account holding more than £16.4 million meant for the final round of payouts from its stablecoin vault has been temporarily restricted, delaying an over-the-counter USDT purchase that was supposed to precede distributions to users. The protocol said the funds were in an Altura Bank account and were being sent to an OTC partner when the restriction hit, adding that the situation is outside its control and that the bank asked it to wait for an internal review. The restriction interrupts the final stage of a wind-down that began in June after a heavy redemption wave. Altura said it processed more than 8.5 million USDT in instant withdrawals over a 24-hour period before deciding to close the vault in an orderly way, citing sustained withdrawal demand and market sentiment. The team later reported recovering $14.97 million with $6.95 million still outstanding as of July 15, then said roughly $1 million in vault strategies remained to unwind about a week later. By July 23, CEO Ranveer Arora said the protocol had received the full return of funds from its real-world asset partners and only the OTC conversion remained. Altura said earlier that transfers into its bank account were moving through JPMorgan Chase and directed users to a Proof of Reserves tab in its app to track incoming transfers. The protocol said it had no exposure to Main Street or its msUSD strategies, even as stress around yield-bearing stablecoins contributed to withdrawals across the sector. DefiLlama showed about $32.36 million in total value locked on Hyperliquid L1 at the time of the redemption rush, with the vault having earlier peaked near $39 million and offering an average annual return around 17.49%. Altura has not given a completion date for the last payouts.