Plaintiffs have renewed a lawsuit against Tether and Bitfinex, accusing them of manipulating Bitcoin and other digital assets. They claim that Tether issued unbacked USDT tokens, which were used by Bitfinex to artificially inflate cryptocurrency prices.
The lawsuit originally began in 2019, alleging that Tether issued $3 billion worth of unbacked tokens to support crypto prices, inflating market capitalization to $795 billion by the end of 2017. Despite the accusations, the proceedings have yet to yield results, with defendants arguing the claims lack evidence.
In June 2020, Bittrex and Poloniex were also implicated, accused of assisting in market manipulation. This follows a 2021 settlement where Tether and Bitfinex paid $18.5 million in fines and agreed to quarterly activity reports.
Despite legal battles, Tether remains a market leader, with USDT’s market cap reaching $113 billion, representing 70% of the stablecoin market. This underscores its dominant position and the influx of capital into the digital currency market.
