In brief:
The New York Attorney General’s office has reached an $18.5 million settlement with Bitfinex
and Tether for alleged illegal activities in the state of NY. According to the official announcement, New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James, also ordered Bitfinex and Tether to cease all operations in the state as a means of protecting investors from fraudulent and deceptive activities of both companies.Attorney General James pointed out that both Bitfinex and Tether made false statements about backing their stablecoin of Tether with actual US dollars. Furthermore, the two companies covered up the truth about massive losses by Bitfinex.
The settlement also came with the following requirements for both Bitfinex and Tether.
The teams at both Tether and Bitfinex also thanked their customers for their continued loyalty via the following statement.
We are pleased that our customers have shown loyalty and commitment to our businesses over the past two years, while this investigation was ongoing. The market capitalization of tethers has grown from US$2 billion to in excess of US$34 billion over that time period, and Bitfinex has seen dramatic growth, as well, particularly this year. We look forward to both companies continuing to lead the industry and serve our customers.