The Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and Tether affiliated with it have new banking partners. Bitfinex has entered into a partnership agreement with the Hong Kong Bank of Communications, partly owned by the financial conglomerate HSBC Holdings, and Tether with Deltec Bank based in the Bahamas, the Block reports, citing informed sources.
The correspondent bank in the transfer of funds from the Bank of Communications to the United States is Citibank. Wells Fargo also performed the same role for Bitfinex partners in Taiwan. But then the financial institution refused to process bank transfers in American dollars. Then, the operator Bitfinex and Tether Ltd. filed for a bank in the California federal court, but then the exchange withdrew the lawsuit. As a result, Bitfinex was forced to look for new banking partners.
After the proceedings with Wells Fargo, Bitfinex reoriented to the Caribbean by entering into an agreement with the local bank Noble Bank International. Since May of last year, he began to process transactions of customers of the exchange, but a little later, Noble Bank declared bankruptcy, and Bitfinex lost its banking partner.
Then the Bitfinex banking service was allegedly carried out by the American division of HSBC Bank N.A., and the payments went through the accounts of Global Trading Solutions, LLC. Platform users are offered to make dollar deposits in a private account of Global Trading Solutions, LLC. At the same time, the receiving bank indicated the American division of HSBC Bank N.A.
Recently, the crypto trading platform froze the acceptance of deposits in four traditional currencies, and the day before launched a new system for depositing fiat. Now, the users who have completed the KYC procedure will create an application, indicating the deposit amount and currency, and the platform representatives will consider it within 48 hours. Then, if approved, users will be sent the recipient's bank data, and the deposit itself will be credited to the account within 6-10 business days.
At this time, Tether Ltd., the USDT issuer associated with Bitfinex, also entered into a new agreement. A crypto startup will now cooperate with the Bahamian Deltec Bank. It is reported that the operators of some over-the-counter trading desks have expressed interest in opening accounts in this bank for direct cooperation with Tether.
Earlier, a significant drop in the USDT price to $0.92 was recorded. Given that the crypto asset is pegged to the dollar at a price of 1 to 1 and its value should not fluctuate significantly. At the same time, the price of Bitcoin has shown a rapid growth, approaching at some point on the Bitfinex exchange close to $7,800. Some analysts have suggested that the major players attempted to withdraw from the asset and buy other cryptocurrencies instead of stablecoins. However, now the course has returned to the mark of $0.97.
Probably the traders had concerns that the token might not have the necessary security in fiat. After all, the USDT has been surrounded by rumors and doubts on this topic. Against the background of panic in the market, representatives of Tether Ltd. they again publicly confirmed that all tokens are fully secured with fiat U.S. dollars.
"Tether is the leading provider of tokenized fiat currencies and is listed on many exchanges worldwide. We would like to reiterate that although markets have shown temporary fluctuations in price, all USDT in circulation are sufficiently backed by U.S. dollars (USD) and that assets have always exceeded liabilities," said chief compliance officer Leonardo Real.
He also reminded everyone who doubted that the report of the law firm Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP (FSS) dated June said that all tokens are provided with dollars in bank accounts since the work was carried out without complying with auditing and accounting standards. Skeptics already then paid attention to this fact.
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