Tether, the company behind the market leading stablecoin Tether (USDT), has addressed concerns about its operating decisions.
According to documents released by the New York Attorney General (NYAG), Tether reportedly disabled approximately 29 accounts belonging to prominent cryptocurrency players in 2021. It appears that most of the individuals on the list had their accounts terminated for different reasons.
While the reasons for the account terminations were not disclosed, Tether answered indicating that he is unwilling to comment on individual relationships. However, the company clarified that all individuals had been subjected to rigorous compliance checks during their onboarding, as well as ongoing monitoring, as required by Tether’s compliance policies.
Deactivated accounts included MoonPay, BlockFi, CMS Holdings and Galois Capital.
Although the NYAG investigation concluded as early as February 2021, certain documents from the investigation have been known to extend to approximately June of the same year. The user codes within these documents have already been redacted.
The NYAG collected these documents while investigating Tether and its sister company Bitfinex for misappropriating $850 million in funds. During this time, iFinex – the parent company of both entities – requested a 30-day extension to submit critical financial documents before the expiration of the previously scheduled date.
Ultimately, the parties involved reached an agreement in which Tether agreed to pay a fine of USD 18.5 million and suspend its trading activities in New York. Subsequently, the media and Coinbase called on the NYAG to publicly release Tether’s initial quarterly report under the Freedom of Information Act. However, Tether opposed this request, citing the need to safeguard its customers’ confidential information from potential exploitation by malicious individuals.
Despite Tether’s objection, the NYAG allowed the media access to the documents, revealing the deactivation of numerous company accounts.
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