Print
Tether Will Defend Itself Against “Shake Down” Litigation Commenced by Celsius

On August 9, 2024, Celsius Network Limited, acting through the Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium, LLC, filed suit against Tether Limited, and certain of its affiliates, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

This baseless lawsuit against Tether proves the adage that “no good deed goes unpunished.” The claims arise out of a 2022 agreement under which Tether made USD₮ available to Celsius, in amounts that Celsius requested at the time.  Under the agreement, Celsius posted bitcoin (BTC) to Tether as collateral.  As the price of BTC began to fall in June 2022, the agreement required Celsius to post additional collateral to avoid the liquidation of its BTC. When Celsius chose not to post additional BTC it directed Tether to liquidate the BTC collateral Tether held in order to close out its roughly 815 million USD₮ position with Tether. 

Rather than recognize the clear validity of the agreement entered into years before Celsius’ bankruptcy, this lawsuit seeks to improperly impose the costs of Celsius’ mismanagement and failure on Tether.  Over two years following its arm-length agreement with Tether—and armed with the benefit of hindsight—this lawsuit incredibly now seeks the return of approximately US$2.4 billion worth of BTC from Tether, despite the BTC being liquidated at Celsius’ direction and with Celsius’ consent at June 2022 prices.

The complaint is undermined by the actual facts underlying the agreement between Celsius and Tether, relies on an obvious misapplication of the law, ignores the numerous defenses that Tether has to the claims asserted against it and raises substantial jurisdictional questions.  We look forward to responding in court to this contrived, meritless shakedown that will benefit nobody other than the lawyers, bankers and consultants involved in bringing this case.  

As we’ve said many times, Tether will never fall prey to shameless litigation money grabs. We will vigorously defend ourselves against the unwarranted allegations made against us, and we expect to prevail in this litigation.

Finally we note that because of Tether’s prudent management, as recently announced, the consolidated equity of the Tether group was nearly US$12 billion on June 30, 2024.  In addition to our current consolidated equity, Tether operates an extremely profitable business with further profits accruing monthly. As a result, even in the most remote scenario in which this baseless lawsuit will get somewhere, Tether token holders will not be impacted.

latest news

Tether Announces QVAC, Its Upcoming Development Platform for Infinite and Ubiquitous Intelligence – Deploying and Evolving AI Agents on User Devices, Not Big Tech Data Centers

14 May, 2025 – Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry, today announced its upcoming QVAC (QuantumVerse Automatic Computer), a development platform for Infinite Intelligence, designed for humans and machines alike, that enables highly scalable AI applications and agents to run directly on local devices without dependence on centralized services, cloud infrastructure, thereby […]

Learn more
Tether Gold (XAU₮) Launches on Maxbit, Introducing Tokenized Gold to Thailand’s Digital Asset Market

13 May, 2025 — Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry, is pleased to announce the official listing of Tether Gold (XAU₮) on Maxbit, a digital asset exchange based in Thailand. Maxbit will become the first exchange in Thailand to offer access to Tether Gold, a tokenized gold product backed 100% by physical […]

Learn more
Tether Awards Another $100,000 Grant to BTCPay Server Foundation, Reaffirming Its Commitment to Free and Open Source Software Development

8 May, 2025 – Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry, has reinforced its commitment to the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement with another $100,000 grant to the BTCPay Server Foundation. This marks the second consecutive year Tether has extended direct support to the Foundation, reaffirming its strategic mission to champion […]

Learn more
Read all news