Altura, a decentralized finance yield protocol, has disclosed that the bank account holding funds earmarked for its final round of stablecoin vault payouts has been temporarily restricted, delaying the conclusion of a treasury wind-down process that began in June.

In a statement, the protocol said: "The situation is entirely outside of our control, and there is no further action we can take until we receive an update from the bank."

Bank Freeze Hits Final Payout Step

Before the restriction, Altura had arranged the closing step of its wind-down: an over-the-counter (OTC) transaction to convert returned cash into USDT for distribution to users. OTC conversions are commonly used for large cryptocurrency transactions to avoid the price slippage and market disruption that can occur when executing sizable orders on public exchanges. The team informed followers that the funds, held in an Altura bank account and en route to an OTC partner, became inaccessible when the account "has been temporarily restricted."

According to screenshots the protocol shared on X, over £16.4 million is currently locked in the account while the bank conducts an internal review. Altura said it has reached out to the institution and been instructed to wait until the review concludes. Banking restrictions on crypto-related businesses have been a recurring friction point across the digital asset industry, with financial institutions periodically pausing or reviewing accounts tied to cryptocurrency activity under compliance and risk-management frameworks.

A Summer-Long Unwinding Process

The bank restriction arrives at the tail end of a wind-down that has progressed throughout the summer. Altura announced the closure of its vault in June and has been returning user capital as underlying positions settle.

On July 15, the team reported recovering $14.97 million, with $6.95 million still outstanding. Approximately one week later, the protocol stated that $1 million in vault strategies remained to be unwound, with completion expected shortly thereafter.

By July 23, CEO Ranveer Arora informed users that the protocol had received the full return of funds from its real-world asset partners, leaving the OTC conversion as the sole remaining step. Altura's use of real-world asset partners reflects a broader trend in which DeFi protocols have increasingly integrated tokenized traditional finance instruments to generate yield. Earlier, on June 25, Altura noted that transfers into its bank account were being processed through JPMorgan Chase and directed users to a newly added Proof of Reserves tab in its app to track each transfer.

What Triggered the Wind-Down

The decision to close the vault stemmed from a surge in redemption requests. During a single 24-hour period in June, Altura processed more than 8.5 million USDT in instant withdrawals before Arora announced the vault would be wound down in an orderly manner. He attributed the decision to "sustained withdrawal demand and current market sentiment."

The pressure coincided with broader strain in the yield-bearing stablecoin sector. Main Street's msUSD had depegged from its dollar value after its proof-of-solvency provider departed, and that contagion spread to withdrawal-heavy protocols such as Altura.

Altura maintained that it never held exposure to Main Street or its strategies. The protocol also stated that its HyperEVM lending vault, the associated USDT/AVLT market, and its borrowers remained unaffected. Arora additionally pushed back against what he characterized as misinformation and speculation, asserting that unfounded narratives had amplified the fear driving redemptions.

Vault Figures and Outlook

Altura's vault was built around stablecoin yield generation on HyperEVM, an Ethereum-linked network. At the time of the redemption rush, DefiLlama recorded approximately $32.36 million in total value locked for the protocol on Hyperliquid L1, supported by a single yield pool with an average annual return near 17.49%. The vault had previously peaked at roughly $39 million.

Altura has not committed to a specific completion date. With the final OTC purchase now contingent on the bank's review rather than settlement timelines, the schedule for the last payouts depends on when the account is reopened.