Tether and Bitfinex Accusers Won’t Drop Fraud Complaints

Tether and Bitfinex have continued to hop from one legal fight to another all through this year. The trend doesn’t seem to be bucking anytime soon, and the stablecoin operator would end the year with as many problems as it started. According to a court filing published on December 2, the plaintiffs who sued both Tether and Bitfinex over their alleged role in manipulating the price of Bitcoin will not be making any changes to their complaint. 

As the document shows, the complaint will remain the same, after John Griffin and Amin Shams, both of whom are academics at the University of Texas, conducted research which still concludes that Tether was still being used to manipulate Bitcoin’s price. 

One Whale Theory: Fact or Fiction? 

Shams and Griffin published a paper last year, claiming that this price manipulation was the major reason why Bitcoin was able to reach the highs of 2017 when it very nearly hit the $20,000 price peg. The paper claimed that a single Bitfinex player uses Tether to purchase large amounts of Bitcoin when prices are falling to prop the asset up once ore.

The research paper has set off a flurry of opinion pieces over the past two months, with several notable names lending their views over whether the “One Whale Theory” surrounding the 2017 bull run can be held with an ounce of water. 

This, as they claimed, was an egregious price manipulation move, and it was either Bitfinex executives knew about the scheme and did nothing or were even aiding the culprits in question. 

It is worth noting that Bitfinex and Tether have issued separate but similar statements responding to the authors, where they claimed that the entire purpose of the report was just a bid to sully their names even ore as Bitfinex claimed, the research itself was based on weakened and flawed sources, which provide inaccurate statistics. 

However, even though other notable names in the industry have criticized the paper and the accuracy of its assumptions, the authors are rolling on with their class-action suit and have confirmed that they won’t be making any changes to their complaint. 

iFinex vs. NYAG 

Tether and Bitfinex are also resolute in their case, and they have both made commitments to uncover the truth and prove that the researchers’ claims are as baseless as they are. For the better part of the year now, they have been involved in a fight with the New York Attorney General, after the legal authority accuses both of lying to investors and covering up about $850 million lost from Bitfinex by drawing out of reserves held in Tether.