Altura said a bank temporarily restricted an account holding £16.4 million, preventing the DeFi yield protocol from converting the cash into USDT for its final round of user redemptions.

The funds had returned from Altura’s underlying investment strategies and were scheduled to be sent to an over-the-counter counterparty for the stablecoin purchase. However, the bank restricted the account before that transfer could take place, leaving the cash inaccessible while an internal review is completed. For users awaiting the wind-down, that means the remaining redemption step now depends on a traditional banking process outside the protocol’s control.

Altura said it contacted the bank and was told to wait for further instructions. The institution was not identified, and the protocol did not say what caused the restriction or whether the review was related to the planned crypto transaction, customer due diligence, or another compliance check.

Full redemptions will remain delayed until the restriction is lifted, the cash is converted into USDT, and the vault is funded.

Screenshot Leaves Verification Gaps

Altura attached a mobile banking screenshot showing the restriction notice, with the account number and sort code obscured. The image did not identify the bank, provide a review reference, or include correspondence explaining why access had been limited.

The protocol’s Proof of Reserves dashboard had classified the bank balance as cash recovered from the unwind and awaiting conversion into USDT. Other remaining positions included stablecoins held through OKX and Cobo, an Ethereum allocation, and capital connected to Morpho.

Altura had previously targeted full redemptions by July 31 after saying that only about $1 million remained inside active strategies. The bank restriction disrupted that timetable after most of the portfolio had already been unwound. Altura has not announced a revised redemption date.

Wind-Down Followed $8.5 Million Redemption Rush

Altura began winding down its vault after processing more than 8.5 million USDT in redemptions over 24 hours in June. Its reserves were spread across exchanges, custody accounts, real-world asset strategies, and lending markets, which prevented the full balance from being returned through instant onchain withdrawals.

The withdrawal rush followed an 88% collapse in MainStreet’s MSUSD, although Altura said it had no direct exposure to the stablecoin or to MainStreet’s investment strategies. The market stress shifted attention toward Altura’s redemption liquidity and its largest offchain allocation through Inessa.

Funds from the Inessa unwind were transferred through JPMorgan Chase into Altura DeFi Ltd’s bank account before the restriction. Altura said the bank had not provided a deadline for completing its review, leaving the £16.4 million unavailable for the planned USDT purchase.