Stablecoin
issuer
Tether
and
sister
company
Bitfinex
agreed
to
drop
opposition
to
a
New
York
Freedom
of
Information
Law
(FOIL)
request
brought
by
a
group
of
journalists,
including
Bloomberg
Businessweek’s
Zeke
Faux,
the
author
of
the
book
“Number
Goes
Up.”
The
firms
said
in
a
statement
that
the
move
is
part
of
their
“commitment
to
transparency,”
although
opposition
doesn’t
mean
a
complete
release
of
all
of
its
documents.
“However,
it’s
essential
to
clarify
that
transparency
does
not
mean
a
wholesale
release
of
all
our
documents.
This
approach
is
not
in
line
with
standard
business
practices,”
the
statement
said.
Tether
previously
made
a
similar
announcement
after
losing
in
court
twice
when
attempting
to
block
a
June
2021
FOIL
request
filed
by
CoinDesk.
That
request
pertained
to
documents
produced
during
the
New
York
Attorney
General’s
inquiry
on
allegations
that
USDT,
the
U.S.
dollar-pegged
stablecoin
that
Tether
issues,
was
not
sufficiently
backed
by
reserves
from
mid-2019
to
early
2021,
settling
charges
with
the
company
at
the
end
of
that
period.
In
the
FOIL
request,
CoinDesk
specifically
asked
for
documents
about
Tether’s
reserves.
The
stablecoin
issuer
petitioned
the
New
York
Supreme
Court
to
block
the
release
of
these
documents.
CoinDesk
joined
the
case
to
argue
for
releasing
the
documents
in
the
public
interest.
Tether
opposed
CoinDesk’s
involvement,
which
a
New
York
judge
dismissed.
In
Friday’s
statement,
the
companies
said
that
they
won’t
appeal
against
the
FOIL
request
by
some
journalists
but
remain
“open
to
constructive
engagement
with
journalists
and
regulatory
authorities
who
adhere
to
ethical
reporting
standards
and
respect
data
privacy
boundaries.”
USDT
is
the
world’s
largest
stablecoin,
currently
worth
about
$88.5
billion.
It
serves
as
a
critical
infrastructure
in
the
crypto
ecosystem
that
facilitates
the
movement
of
money
around
the
globe.
In
his
book,
Faux
noted
the
use
of
USDT
in
various
illicit
activities,
including
“pig
butchering”
scams.
Tether
and
the
U.S.
Department
of
Justice
announced
they
froze
funds
tied
to
such
scams
over
the
past
week.
Read
more:
Reviewing
the
Tether
Documents
