Tether awaits clarification on the ongoing case against the New York Attorney General

• Tether (USDT) has been subject of numerous rumors of fraud and other accusations.
• Back in April 2019, Bitfinex was accused of using Tether to cover $850 million of lost funds.

 In April 2019, the office of the New York Attorney General alleged that Bitfinex lost $850 million in funds and covered it using USDT. In September 2020, a Judge rules that Bitfinex and Tether had to turn over documents detailing their financial history. On December 9, 2020, the deadline was extended until January 15, 2021. 

Stuart Hoegner, the General Counsel of Bitfinex and Tether stated that Deltec’s bank does not purchase for and or on Tether’s behalf. Deltec Bank announced on Thursday that it was investing customer funds in Bitcoin which raised more questions to the allegations of Tether involvement in Bitcoin’s rally. 

However, following this publication, Elisa D’Amico, an attorney for Deltec stated: 

While some of the bank’s customer investment portfolios hold positions in bitcoin, this is limited mostly to high-net-worth individuals and Executive Asset Management. In addition, Mr. Hugo’s statement in the video regarding the investment strategies for some clients had no relation whatsoever to Tether’s depositary assets with Deltec and, in fact, made no reference to Tether at all

A report published by Crypto Anonymous titled The Bit Short; Inside Crypto’s Doomsday Machine has been posted around social media. It showcases the risks associated with Tether in a deep-dive investigation. You can read the entire report here. 

One of the main points of the report is the significant difference between USDC and USDT, even though both are stablecoins. The issuance of USDT seems significantly different than USDC as this last one happens in smaller batches and transactions are not exact numbers. 

There are currently around $25 billion Tether in circulation while Bitcoin’s price has hit a new all-time high at $42,000.