Bitfinex, a large crypto-exchange, likely has found a banking partner in the Caribbean, Bloomberg reports.
According to three unnamed sources familiar with the situation, Noble Bank International, based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, took over banking duties for Bitfinex last year.
This is not the first time Noble was seen as a Bitfinex partner. BitMEX Research reported in March that Noble Bank International acts as a banking partner of Bitfinex and Tether, a company that issues USDT tokens backed by U.S. dollars.
Tether is closely associated with Bitfinex, although the companies did not discuss the exact nature of their relationship in public. In addition, Tether never conducted a fully independent audit, confirming that its tokens are really backed by the US dollar even when its market capitalization has increased to $2.5 billion.
The BitMEX report noted that aggregate financial data indicates that financial institutions based in Puerto Rico has seen an enormous influx of cash related to cryptocurrencies last year. This correlated with the increase in Tether's output and growth of the entire cryptocurrency market.
According to Bloomberg, the cash and equivalents held by the island’s so-called International Financial Entities such as Noble, soared to $3.3 billion at the end of 2017, from $191 million a year earlier. Noble Bank International is “entirely responsible" for this increase.
By Ekaterina Ulyanova