Today, Judge Katherine Failla appointed lead interim counsel of a consolidated complaint against Tether in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The allegations in the complaint are without merit or legal basis, and exhibit a fundamental lack of understanding of the market structure of cryptocurrencies. Indeed, it is reckless and false to allege that USDt tokens are issued in order to manipulate markets.
Stuart Hoegner, General Counsel for Tether, states, “These now amalgamated copycat lawsuits are baseless and rely on a foundationally flawed paper by John M. Griffin and Amin Shams that lacks data and evidence to support incendiary allegations, as we will establish when we put the facts before the court. During oral arguments before the Court on Monday, we witnessed three legal teams poking huge holes in each others’ legal theories and evidentiary footing. Whoever serves as lead interim counsel is irrelevant, as the claim rests on the defective research and methodology of a paper whose authors openly admit they do not have crucial data on the timing of actual transactions, or on the flow of capital between exchanges, or any data at all to prove actual purchases of bitcoin with Tether. This academic sloppiness and lack of evidence means that plaintiffs’ counsel can’t establish a valid sequence of events through which their allegations of manipulation could have occurred. Sadly, the claims are nothing more than a shameless money grab.”
Launched in 2014, Tether is a blockchain-enabled platform that allows traditional currencies to be tokenized, enabling users to transact with fiat currencies across exchanges without the volatility associated with digital currencies. Tether combines digital currency benefits, such as instant global transactions, with traditional currency benefits, such as price stability. Tether is disrupting the legacy financial system by offering a more modern approach to money. By introducing fiat currency-digital cash to the Ethereum, EOS, Liquid Network, Omni protocol, Tron and Algorand blockchains, Tether makes a significant contribution to a more connected crypto ecosystem.
Tether and its affiliates have never used Tether tokens or issuances to manipulate the cryptocurrency market or token pricing. All Tether tokens are fully backed by reserves and are issued pursuant to market demand, and not for the purpose of controlling the pricing of crypto assets. Tether offers products that are efficient, liquid, popular and widely applicable in the cryptocurrency economy.
