Blockchain Consultants

Blockchain Transformations Done Here

lawsuit

Ripple Vs SEC: Discussions Opened For Defining Crypto As Securities

by

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs have had a very long, very interesting relationship. Recently, however, Ripple Labs has been granted access to the documents of the SEC that express the interpretations and views of the SEC when it comes to crypto assets.

Playing The Technical Game

Law360 showed that one Sarah Netburn, a US Magistrate Judge, had granted Ripple Labs the motion “in large part.” The Judge had concluded that the memos and minutes of the SEC regarding cryptocurrencies are likely discoverable but asserted that staff-to-staff email communications are not to be produced. Another detail Netburn allowed is for either RIpple or the SEC to raise disputes with the ruling if they wished.

It was back in December of last year when the SEC filed its lawsuit against Ripple. In this lawsuit, the regulator accused Ripple Labs, including Christian Larson, the Chairman, and Brand Garlinghouse, the CEO, of raising a total of $1.38 billion by way of an unlicensed security offering, which they did all the way back in 2013.

A Crack Legal Team Is Severely Versatile

Not to give the jig up just yet, Ripple promptly challenged the SEC’s lawsuit, claiming that an asset expressly used for online settlements is more akin to Ether or Bitcoin. Both of these assets have been declared commodities by the SEC. Another important factor Ripple hammers home about is the 8-year time gap the agency took in terms of filing a complaint against RIpple as a whole.

Matthew Solomon stands as the Counsel of Garlinghouse, with Law360 reporting that Matthew Solomon is convinced that the SEC’s lawsuit could be “game over” should they manage to find any evidence that the regulator had compared XRP to ETH or BTC. Through this technicality, XRP would be classified as a commodity instead of security, and thus be outside of the jurisdiction of the SEC.

The Legal System Is Always Complex

Another point lawyers are hammering home on, is the fact that the SEC has taken a whole of 8 years to file the complaint. As such, the law firm is doing its best to undermine the claims of the regulator should they find any documentation that is counterintuitive to the official classification of XRP by the SEC.

Solomon declared that this sort of discovery is needed in order to defend the client in question

Time will tell how successful this antic will be. Many in the crypto space already see RXRP as a security and are simply waiting for them to be caught out for it

Ripple Vs SEC: Discussions Opened For Defining Crypto As Securities

Source

CZ responds to reports of Binance investigation: story has no “teeth”

by

Shortly after a Bloomberg report on Friday that cryptocurrency exchange Binance was under investigation for permitting US residents to place unlawful trades, Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (better known as CZ) dismissed the reports during a live AMA on Clubhouse, saying that the report had “no teeth.” 

“This is a topic that just came up, literally like a few minutes ago or a hour ago,” said CZ. “So number one, the news article said there was no, I don’t have it in front of me, there was no “misconduct,” I have to dig it up. So number one there was no report of misconduct from Binance, so the report kind of defeated itself.”

CZ noted that as a business Binance maintains a “no comment” policy on communications with regulators, which places the company in a difficult position with regards to rebutting the contents of the report, which cited a single anonymous source.

An investigation does not mean that “they’re trying to charge us, trying to do something with us,” and that the report could simply be a routine communication, he said.

Without citing examples, CZ said that similar instances of what he characterized as miscommunications have happened in the past, and that the “story doesn’t have any teeth.”

He also notably alleged that “self-perceived competitors” might bribe or pressure journalists to publish stories heavy on allegations and short on content. 

CZ has had a complex relationship with the media over this last year. Earlier this month, Binance quietly dropped a defamation lawsuit against Forbes and two of its journalists.

“We maintain a very collaborative posture with all agencies around the world, not just the US. We have an active dialogue with regulatory agencies,” he added.

Cracks in the geofence

The reports that the CFTC is investigating whether or not US users placed illegal trades on the exchange perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that as recently as November last year he admitted that US traders find “intelligent” ways to circumvent the ban.

This morning, however, CZ vigorously defended Binance’s KYC/AML policies.

“I can comment publicly that Binance probably has the strongest KYC/AML program in the industry,” he said. “[…] We do very careful, very strict KYC/AML. We also use very intelligent geofencing.”

He added that the company often accidentally “mislabels” travelers to the US, claiming that the standards are often “too strict.”

However, he also admitted once more that US users often try to circumvent the systems in place, and noted that the quality of their barriers have to “improve.” 

Ultimately he struck a hopeful tone that industry players and regulatory agencies can find common ground.

“Right now there’s kind of a gap between the industry players and the regulators. I want to see, hopefully, both sides extend their hand and bridge that gap.” 

CZ responds to reports of Binance investigation: story has no \”teeth\”

Source

P2P Payments: Binance Adds CashU and MoneyGram For Arab Customers

by

Binance has announced that it would be adding two more payment options for its clients in Arab countries in a press release.

Binance Rolls Out Two More Payments Options For Arab World

Per the release, CashU and a former Ripple partner MoneyGram, would be added as payment options for clients looking to trade crypto-assets on its platform. 

According to the crypto trading platform, these payment options will be available on its Binance peer-to-peer page (Binance P2P) and will solely cater to Arab-speaking traders.

Recall that MoneyGram distanced itself from blockchain company Ripple Labs after the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a class-action lawsuit against the company in late December 2020. 

MoneyGram Gets The Boot From Investors

MoneyGram had announced in its quarterly outlook that it would no longer be planning for any benefits from Ripple market development fees in the first quarter of 2021. According to the global money transfer service, it was suspending its agreement with the blockchain payments company because of the uncertainty surrounding Ripple’s litigation by the SEC.

The companies had joined forces in 2018, with Ripple Labs coming on board to help MoneyGram with its foreign settlements platform. Ripple’s on-demand liquidity (ODL) product was used extensively by MoneyGram, and the blockchain company added incentives in the deal in what is called a market development fee.

To further cement the partnership, Ripple signed a multi-year deal with MoneyGram and acquired an estimated $50 million worth of MoneyGram’s stock in 2019 in exchange for a 10% stake in the company. When the SEC lawsuit went public, Ripple had cashed in on $15 million of its shares in MoneyGram.

Ripple said it would end the current partnership agreement with a fellow US company and may likely revisit the deal when the regulatory climate was clearer.

Following the MoneyGram/Ripple marriage’s official dissolution, MoneyGram was hit by a class-action lawsuit by law firm Rosen on behalf of its investors who bought MoneyGram’s stock between June 2019 and Feb. 2021. According to the plaintiff, MoneyGram had allegedly issued false statements regarding its partnership with Ripple Labs and its XRP cryptocurrency.

The complaint’s legal custodian said that MoneyGram had failed to disclose that XRP was viewed as unregulated, unlawful security by the SEC.

To add more to MoneyGram’s miseries, its MGI stock price slumped 7% on open day trading. At press time, it trades at $6.90, following a 0.31% increase.

P2P Payments: Binance Adds CashU and MoneyGram For Arab Customers

Source

Transparent stablecoins? Conclusion of Tether vs. NYAG raises new questions

by

A long-standing legal drama finally found resolution on Feb. 23, with the New York Attorney General’s office announcing that it had come to a settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex after a 22-month inquiry into whether the company had been trying to cover up its losses — touted to be worth $850 million — by misrepresenting the degree to which its Tether (USDT) reserves were backed by fiat collateral.

According to the terms of the announced settlement, which now marks an end to the inquiry that was initiated by the NYAG back in Q1 2019, Bitfinex and Tether will pay the government body a fixed sum of $18.5 million but will not be required to admit to any wrongdoing. That being said, the settlement clearly states that henceforth, Bitfinex and Tether can no longer service customers in the state of New York.

Furthermore, over the course of the next 24 months, Bitfinex and Tether will be required to provide the NYAG with quarterly reports of their current reserve status and duly account for any transactions taking place between the two companies. Not only that, but the firms will also be required to provide public reports for the specific composition of their cash and non-cash reserves.

On the subject, NY Attorney General Letitia James said that both Bitfinex and Tether had covered up their losses and deceived their customers by overstating their reserves. When asked about this most recent development, Stuart Hoegner, general counsel at Tether, replied to Cointelegraph with a non-committal answer, stating:

“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of legal proceedings with the New York Attorney General’s Office and to have put this matter behind us. We look forward to continuing to lead our industry and serve our customers.”

Does a New York exclusive ban even make sense?

To gain a better legal perspective of the situation, Cointelegraph spoke with Josh Lawler, partner at Zuber Lawler — a law firm with expertise in crypto and blockchain technology. In his view, the lawsuit, and particularly the nature of the settlement in which Tether and Bitfinex agreed to cease actions, underscore the confusion inherent in the regulation of digital assets in the United States.

Additionally, the agreement by Bitfinex and Tether to prohibit the use of its products and services by New York persons and entities seems on paper to be nearly impossible to accomplish, with Lawler opining:

“Are they saying that no one with a New York nexus can own or trade Tether? Tether is traded on virtually every cryptocurrency exchange in existence. Even if Tether could restrict the use of Tether tokens by New Yorkers, is that really a good idea? Do we now have a world in which every state can pick off particular distributed ledger projects from functioning within their jurisdiction?”

Lastly, even though the deal between Bitfinex/Tether and the NYAG has come in the form of a settlement — i.e., it is not subject to an appeal or federal scrutiny under the commerce clause — state-centric bans may further add to the existing regulatory uncertainty.

Added transparency is always a good thing

With regulators now asking Tether and Bitfinex to be more forthcoming about their monetary dealings and issuing an arguably small fine on them, it seems as though an increasing number of firms dealing with USDT will now have to pull up their socks and get their account books in order. Joel Edgerton, chief operating officer for cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer USA, told Cointelegraph:

“The key point in this settlement is not the elimination of the lawsuit, but the increased commitment to transparency. The risk from USDT still exists, but increased transparency should cement its lead in transaction volumes.”

In a somewhat similar vein, Tim Byun, global government relations officer at OK Group — the parent company behind cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin — believes that the settlement can be looked at as a win-win scenario not only for NY OAG and Tether/Bitfinex but also for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, alluding to the fact that that the 17-page settlement revealed no mention of Bitcoin (BTC) being manipulated via the use of USDT.

Lastly, Sam Bankman-Fried, chief executive officer for cryptocurrency exchange FTX, also believes that the settlement, by and large, has been a good development for the industry, especially from a transparency perspective, adding:

“Like many settlements, this one had a messy outcome, but the high-level takeaway here is that they found no evidence to support the heaviest accusations against Tether — no evidence of market manipulation or unbounded unbacked printing.”

Will scrutiny of stablecoins increase?

Even though stablecoins have been under the regulatory scanner for some time now — since they claimed to be pegged to various fiat assets in a 1-1 ratio — it stands to reason that added pressure from government agencies may be present when it comes to the transparency side of things from here on out.

Another line of thinking may be that governments all over the world will now look to curtail the use of stablecoins, such as USDT, especially as a number of central banks are coming around to the idea of creating their very own fiat-backed digital currencies. As a result, governments may want to push their citizens to use their centralized offerings instead of stablecoins.

Related: Many pieces of the Diem puzzle still missing as launch gets delayed

On the subject, Byun noted: “Stablecoin is just one type of cryptocurrency or ‘convertible virtual currency,’ and therefore, stablecoins and the stablecoin market will continue to attract scrutiny and mandated examinations from regulators.” That said, Byun believes that whether it’s Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) or Tether, crypto investors generally understand that investing in crypto remains a high-risk activity and that they “must practice caveat emptor” at all times.

Does Tether impact institutional adoption?

Another pertinent question worth exploring is whether or not the settlement may have an adverse impact on the institutional investment currently coming into this space. In Lawler’s opinion, the decision is not going to slow down adoption even in the slightest. “Institutions are not principally focused on Tether. There are other stable coins, and Bitfinex is all but irrelevant to them,” he added.

Similarly, it could even happen that the ongoing reporting requirements set by the NYAG for Bitfinex and Tether may end up bolstering institutional confidence in Tether — a sentiment that some of Tether’s most vocal and consistent critics also seem to agree with.

That being said, a lot of speculation around Tether’s fiat reserves continues to linger on; for example, Tether Ltd.’s finances are handled by Bahamas-based Deltec bank. In this regard, one anonymous report claimed that “from January 2020 to September 2020, the amount of all foreign currencies held by all domestic banks in the Bahamas increased by only $600 million,” up to $5.3 billion. Meanwhile, the total volume of issued USDT soared by a whopping $5.4 billion, up to around $10 billion.

As Tether states on its website USDT is covered by fiat and other assets, so such investigations cannot be conclusive. However, what both NYAG and the anonymous authors of the report agree upon is that Tether needs to be more forthcoming about its financial status. With that in mind, Tether’s commitment toward transparency and revealing its reserves to a regulator seems like a step in the right direction.

Transparent stablecoins? Conclusion of Tether vs. NYAG raises new questions

Source

BTC bounceback, ETH’s ‘legit crisis,’ Elon Musk’s DOGE stunt: Hodler’s Digest, Jan. 31–Feb. 6

by

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

Bitcoin eyes $50K less than a month after BTC price broke its 2017 all-time high

Bitcoin is showing signs of a newfound rally after breaking the $40,000 resistance area, fueling hope that we might be about to see a new all-time high.

It’ll be critical for Bitcoin to stay above this level in the foreseeable future. The uptick came days after MicroStrategy pitched Bitcoin to more than 1,400 companies.

Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe says BTC’s strength means its market dominance is rebounding at the expense of most altcoins.

He added: “An apparent breakout above the all-time high above $42,000 however, should propel Bitcoin’s price to $50,000.”

This is the first time that Bitcoin has surged above $40,000 for 23 days, but this time around, market sentiment is a lot calmer, and the derivatives market isn’t as overheated.

Some institutions have used this week’s surge to take some money off the table, with Ruffer Investment booking $650 million in profits after doubling its cash in just two months.

Ether price breakout to $1,750 sees Ethereum network fees hit all-time high

ETH has been building on recent all-time highs this week, climbing ever closer to $2,000.

After hitting $1,756.51, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency took a little bit of a tumble, falling back to $1,672.99 at the time of writing.

The record high came off the back of intense trading interest in DeFi coins, many of which use the Ethereum network as their basis. Anticipation has also been building over the launch of Ether futures from CME Group.

There’s just one problem: Gas fees are rising. At one point this week, transaction costs surged so high that some exchanges were forced to halt withdrawals altogether.

Amid fears this could affect the smooth running of DeFi protocols, Blockstream developer Grubles warned: “This is a legit crisis. Going to have to stock up on popcorn to see how Ethereum digs its way out of this.”

“Ur welcome” — DOGE soars after Elon Musk returns to Twitter… to shill Dogecoin

To an extent, the surge in crypto prices could be attributed to Elon Musk. For reasons beyond understanding, the world’s richest man is obsessed with Dogecoin.

The Tesla CEO raised eyebrows this week when he shared a doctored photo of himself masquerading as Rafiki from The Lion King, with a shiba inu superimposed onto Simba’s face in the famous scene where the lion cub is held aloft on Pride Rock.

Musk helped DOGE surge this week, but remarks he made on Bitcoin during a Clubhouse discussion failed to have as much of an impact as last Friday when BTC leaped up by thousands of dollars because Musk added #bitcoin to his Twitter bio.

During the Clubhouse chat, the billionaire was quoted as saying: “I am late to the party but I am a supporter of Bitcoin.”

New research this week examined six times when Musk had tweeted about BTC or DOGE, finding that his remarks caused price surges and a “significant increase” in trading volumes.

But the paper from Blockchain Research Lab warned: “While Musk’s behavior and communication can be deemed positive or funny in nature (and therefore arguably uncritical), similar research has already revealed that negative tweets can also have a negative impact on financial returns.”

Reddit rage as XRP price crashes 50% hours after hitting two-week highs

XRP was the subject of a trading frenzy last week, enjoying an 86% breakout after becoming the new coin of focus in r/Satoshistreetbets, a spin-off of r/Wallstreetbets.

The pump came despite the fact that XRP’s legal woes have shown no sign of going away, with the SEC set to face off against Ripple later this month.

Telegram and Discord chats had encouraged people to buy XRP en masse on Feb.1 at 8.30 am ET, but as you might expect, the pump ended in tears. Within two hours, the altcoin crashed by almost 50%… burning new investors in the process.

Cointelegraph Markets contributor Keith Wareing tweeted: “Even though the $XRP army get aggressive when you warn them about the escrow shaped elephant in the room, I still can’t help but feel sorry for those that bought at 0.75c today. X R (I)P.”

PayPal to offer crypto payments for merchants, limited trading on Venmo

PayPal has revealed that its crypto trading service has “exceeded expectations” since its limited launch in the United States.

The payments giant is now set to double down on crypto, blockchain and digital currencies in 2021, with “significant” investment in a new unit. According to the company, those who bought Bitcoin ended up logging in twice as much as they did before.

Following on from the “exceptional response,” CEO Dan Schulman said that crypto will be offered as a funding source when users shop at any of PayPal’s 29 million merchants later this quarter, and an “extensive roadmap” of new services is going to follow.

In November, PayPal took a major step toward the adoption of digital assets by allowing its U.S. users to purchase crypto directly through the app. Customers based in the United States are limited to trading $20,000 per week. Since that time, crypto trading volume on the platform has reached record highs, peaking at $242 million in transactions on Jan. 11.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at $40,776.40, Ether at $1,676.86 and XRP at $0.44. The total market cap is at $1,218,786,711,013.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are UMA, 0x and PancakeSwap. The top three altcoin losers of the week are HedgeTrade, ThorChain and Fantom.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis. 

Most Memorable Quotations

“After a record-breaking year in 2020 that saw it jump more than 300%, Bitcoin looks to stay strong in 2021 as more retail — and big-name institutional buyers — enter the market.”

Jesse Cohen, Investing.com senior financial analyst

“While Musk’s behavior and communication can be deemed positive or funny in nature (and therefore arguably uncritical), similar research has already revealed that negative tweets can also have a negative impact on financial returns.”

Lennart Ante, Blockchain Research Lab co-founder

“If a single tweet can potentially lead to an increase of $111 billion in Bitcoin’s market capitalization, a different tweet could also wipe out a similar value.”

Lennart Ante, Blockchain Research Lab co-founder

“ur welcome”

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO 

“We also saw an exceptional response from our crypto launch […] The volume of crypto traded on our platform greatly exceeded our expectations.”

Dan Schulman, PayPal CEO

“The economic environment for Bitcoin right now could not be better.”

Duncan MacInnes, Ruffer co-manager

“Even though the $XRP army get aggressive when you warn them about the escrow shaped elephant in the room, I still can’t help but feel sorry for those that bought at 0.75c today. X R (I)P.”

Keith Wareing, Cointelegraph Markets contributor

Prediction of the Week

BlockTower Capital CIO estimates another 9–22 months of bull run for crypto

With renewed optimism around how Bitcoin is performing, the inevitable question is this: How long will the bull run last?

Well, according to BlockTower Capital’s chief information officer Ari Paul, we’ve got at least nine more months to look forward to.

He said: “This is where we get ongoing, dizzying rotation. BTC up, then when BTC takes a breather, ETH and some large caps (and in this regime, DeFi blue chips), then small caps, rinse and repeat. Of course, throw in some 30-60% retracements for fun.”

In terms of how Bitcoin will perform, Paul added: “Price wise — my guess is BTC ends the bull run between $100k-$400k and alts do better.”

FUD of the Week 

Guggenheim CIO under fire for the timing of his changing BTC sentiment 

Scott Minerd’s apparent shift from bullish to bearish and back again on either side of an SEC filing related to a $500-million investment in BTC has been raising eyebrows on social media.

The Guggenheim CIO had hit the headlines after claiming that BTC would see a “full retracement back towards the $20,000 level” — later adding there wasn’t enough institutional support to warrant a price above $30,000.

Days later, Minerd claimed Bitcoin has the potential to reach $600,000 in the long run based on its scarcity and the value of gold.

Some on Twitter were not impressed. Economist Alex Krüger wrote: “Remember Guggenheim wants you to sell #bitcoin so they may buy lower. Been trying to scare the market into thinking price will crash to $20,000, even though they think it’s worth $400,000.”

New class action against Robinhood alleges oligopoly manipulation

It’s been quite a week from Robinhood, the stock trading app that’s continuing to reel from the backlash it suffered after restricting trading in GameStop.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed that the drastic move denied customers a chance to profit from volatility in GME shares — manipulating the course of the stocks.

Meanwhile, some reports suggested that Robinhood was planning on postponing its planned IPO as it tries to focus on tackling the PR disaster. Other outlets have cast doubt on this, saying a stock market debut is going ahead as intended.

It’s also been claimed that Robinhood’s CEO, Vlad Tenev, is going to testify before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee over the firm’s role in recent volatility.

Robinhood, the stock trading app formerly popular with millennials, is facing another class-action suit, following its recent temporary suspension of purchases of GameStop and other “meme-stocks” through its platform.

Polish crypto exchange employee in induced coma after armed attack

A member of staff at a Polish crypto and gold exchange has been placed into an induced coma after an armed attack.

The offices of FlyingAtom, in the city of Olsztyn, were targeted on Jan. 22. The masked attacker managed to escape with gold worth approximately $120,000.

A suspect was subsequently detained in connection with the incident, with the exchange thanking the police for their help.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Time to shine? Crypto should be given a chance after GameStop drama

The GameStop pump may lead a number of amateur investors to finally learn about DeFi and the advantages it puts forth.

Going feeless is the only way to enable blockchain adoption

Feeless transactions can play a role in enabling DeFi, allowing the sector to further develop and grow in importance.

r/Wallstreetbets vs. Wall Street: A prelude to DeFi bursting onto the scene?

Was stock trading app Robinhood the villain in the GameStop saga? “In a decentralized trading market, no one would have that power.”

BTC bounceback, ETH’s ‘legit crisis,’ Elon Musk’s DOGE stunt: Hodler’s Digest, Jan. 31–Feb. 6

Source

Bitfinex Finally Completes Loan Repayment To Sister Firm Tether

by

Crypto exchange Bitfinex said it has finally repaid the $550 million loan to Tether, the issuer of the Tether (USDT) stablecoin.

In 2018, Tether lent the exchange over $600 million, both of which have the same ownership and executives. However, the transaction wasn’t made public until a year later after the report by New York Attorney General’s Office (NYAG). The report alleged that Bitfinex is secretly using Tether’s reserve to cover the $850 million loss suffered from a deal with Crypto Capital Corp.

But Bitfinex came out to clear the air and stated an initial payment has already been made to clear the loan.

According to Bitfinex’s website, the line of credit opened by Tether has been canceled after Bitfinex met the remaining loan payment requirement. The final repayment was made last month, according to the official statement.

Repayment has added more weight to Tether

According to Stuart Hoegner, Tether’s general counsel, Tether’s USDT’s stablecoin was 74% backed by fiat currencies as of April 2019.  He said this was due to the loan given to Bitfinex to cover lost funds. However, Deltec, Tether’s Bahamas-based bank, stated that the Tether (USDT) stablecoin is fully supported by reserve, which is what is in circulation.

Coinbase Looking To Land Killing Blow on Tether USDT
Source: Coin Review

Presently, Tether’s market capitalization is about $28.31 billion. But five months ago, the market cap was less than half the present value. As of the time of writing, Deltec has not responded to emails sent for more information regarding the loan repayment.

Bitfinex said the previous payment made to Tether was made in entirely fiat currency, which has added more backing to USDT tokens. “Bitfinex made this payment in fiat currency wired to Tether’s bank account,” the official statement from Bitfinex reads.

Bitfinex still facing legal issues

While the loan repayment is a good thing for Bitfinex, the crypto exchange is still the target of several lawsuits. The accusation by NYAG is still standing, although Bitfinex has defended itself on several occasions.

According to the crypto exchange, the said fund was deposited to Crypto Capital, a Panamanian-Company. However, it was not the fault of the exchange that it was seized and safeguarded in several jurisdictions in UK, Portugal, the US, and Poland.

Bitfinex has also questioned the accusations meted against it by NYAG, stating that the presentation against the exchange is misleading. The legal battle is still ongoing and Bitfinex would hope to gain more grounds in the lawsuit following the loan repayment.

Bitfinex Finally Completes Loan Repayment To Sister Firm Tether

Source