Tether and Bitfinex say they are facing a groundless charge of manipulating USDT

The stablecoin issuer Tether and its affiliate Bitfinex bitcoin exchange distributed statements on Saturday, October 5, according to which both companies expect “unfounded” lawsuits to be filed against them alleging market manipulation of the USDT token.

It is assumed that the so-called “unpublished and unexplored community” study will form the basis of the claim.

Both companies insist that all the arguments that will be met in this study are based on "erroneous assumptions, incomplete and biased data and a false methodology."

Tether Anticipates Meritless and Mercenary Lawsuit Based on Bogus Study https://t.co/CTgxd9blj2

– Tether (@Tether_to) October 5, 2019

Bitfinex Anticipates Meritless and Mercenary Lawsuit Based on Bogus Study https://t.co/k1jr2Vze59

– Bitfinex (@bitfinex) October 5, 2019

Both statements actually copy each other and boil down to the following:

“These unfounded allegations are an attempt to discourage the growth and success of the entire digital token community, of which Bitfinex and Tether are key players.”

Tether and Bitfinex do not report which particular study and who plans to publish it. At the same time, both companies emphasize that while awaiting the filing of the lawsuit, they want to “state their position regarding any statements based on an unreasonable, unprincipled and shameful enrichment attempt”.

Representatives of Tether also emphasized that neither the company itself nor its related parties have ever used USDT tokens to manipulate the market.

“All Tether tokens are fully provided with reserves and are issued in accordance with market demand and are not intended to control the prices of cryptocurrency assets,” Tether said.

Earlier this year, the New York State Attorney's Office (NYAG) charged Bitfinex with the loss of $ 850 million that it withheld, using Tether to cover the damage. The exchange itself categorically denies these allegations.

In the latest development of these events, the New York State Supreme Court of Appeals Chamber granted the iFinex motion to defer Judge Joel Cohen's decision until January 2020, according to which the company had to transfer all documents requested by NYAG to the NYAG.