Bitfinex, one of the planet’s most widely known cryptocurrency exchanges, was emphatic in its response to what it called a “mercenary and baseless class action complaint” lodged in Washington State, in the United States. Not only that, but the platform also threatened to retaliate.
The comments were provided by the exchange in its official website, in the “Announcements” section. The issue at hand is a “copycat” lawsuit (that’s how the exchange refered to it) that was originated at a Washington district court a few days ago.
It is the second suit of its kind against Bitfinex, although the nature of the legal proceeding wasn’t published or specified. Bitfinex is administrated by iFinex, which is the same firm that runs the Tether stablecoin. Both companies have been on the news for months for different reasons.
Linked to a Recent Research
However, reports from the United States seem to indicate that the latest legal advance against the exchange is likely linked to recent research published by two academic writers, claiming that Tether was used to perform Bitcoin price manipulation on the Bitfinex ecosystem in 2017, a series of events that resulted in a surge.
“On November 22, without notice to us, a class action complaint was filed against Bitfinex and Tether in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. This copycat lawsuit suffers from the same multitude of deficiencies as the unsound complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on October 6. The Plaintiffs’ claims here are similarly without merit, and Bitfinex strongly contests the bogus research purporting to support them,” the document says.
In the document, the controversial exchange says that “mercenary lawyers continue to try to use Bitfinex and Tether to obtain a payday.” It certainly seems that, at least judging by the emphatic tone of the statement, Bitfinex is trying to keep other people with intentions of suing at bay.
“There will be no nuisance settlements or settlements of any kind reached. Instead, all claims raised across both actions will be vigorously contested and ultimately disposed of in due course. Once they are, Bitfinex and Tether will fully evaluate their legal options against those bringing and promoting the baseless claims,” the statement read.
A Tough Autumn
The fall has been rough for Bitfinex and its community of users. Accusations of this kind do no good when it comes to the exchange’s reputation and taking into account its troubled past. Also, a similar legal suit was issued against it in October.
If that wasn’t enough, the parent company iFinex has also been under heavy scrutiny in recent times because of a long legal battle with the New York Attorney General, which earlier in 2019 made significant accusations towards the exchange about mismanaging people’s funds at some point.
“Bitfinex 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 and traded on Bitfinex according to market demand, and not to control the pricing of crypto assets. It is irresponsible to suggest that Tether or Bitfinex enable illicit activity due to the efficiency, liquidity and wide-scale applicability of Tether’s products within the cryptocurrency economy,” according to the text.
By Andres Chavez
