The parent company of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and the issuer of Tether stablecoins — iFinex — has asked the New York Supreme Court to bar media and other organisations from requesting data on the state and structure of USDT reserves over the past several years.
JUST IN: @Tether_to asks court to block @NewYorkStateAG from releasing documents to CoinDesk under Freedom of Information Law.
Story to come.
Filing here: https://t.co/t3LAN4lwjj
— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) August 31, 2021
The petition is a response to a request by CoinDesk, made under the Freedom of Information Act. The publication sought documents from the New York Attorney General’s office confirming the composition of the USDT reserves. iFinex contends that disclosure of these data would harm its business.
“Competition is intense, new exchanges continually enter the market and challenge incumbents. Bitfinex and Tether differ from their rivals by using at least three sensitive-to-disclosure types of information that are the subject of this request: financial strategies, compliance measures and relevant documentation, as well as client data,” the petition states.
According to the document, the disclosure of these details “would create unfair competitive conditions for Tether.”
As of July 30, 2021 Moore Cayman published a report stating that the stablecoin USDT was 100% backed by reserves of Tether Holdings Limited.
Meanwhile 49% of reserves consisted of commercial securities totalling $30.8 billion. The share of cash and bank deposits that could be withdrawn within two days or less in backing USDT accounted for 10% — approximately $6.28 billion.
A substantial portion of the reserves is represented by U.S. Treasury bills with maturities of under 90 days. They accounted for more than 22.5% of the total value or about $15.3 billion.
Moore Cayman provided the conclusion on the full backing of the stablecoin by the issuer’s reserves for the first time in March 2021.
Back in February 2021, Bitfinex and Tether reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s Office over a matter relating to the company’s financial operations tied to a loss of $850 million.
In August, Bloomberg reported on a possible investigation of Tether by the U.S. Department of Justice. The company described the news as clickbait.
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