Tether & Bitfinex Withdraw Objections to FOIL Request

Tether and Bitfinex stated in a transparency-driven decision that they will not appeal the Freedom of Information Law request made by several media. They made this choice to uphold transparency, as mentioned in their statement.

Furthermore, Tether and Bitfinex have agreed to withdraw the original opposition to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request filed by some news publications in New York.

Moreover, They commit to transparent information sharing following the FOIL request earlier this year,” stated the USDT stablecoin issuer and cryptocurrency exchange.

The companies also said that they would refrain from publicly releasing documentation. This documentation would describe that the approach does not follow their usual business manner.

“It is important to be clear that ‘transparency’ does not mean the wholesale release of all of our documents.”

Additionally, Tether and Bitfinex won’t appeal the request of journalists, including Zeke Faux, Shane Shifflett, and Ada Hui, for the FOIL, which accuses the company of certain behaviors.

The companies maintain Faux and his prior reporting on Tether and Bitfinex have “ventured beyond the realm of journalism. They have claimed that several other news outlets are ‘unbalanced and misleading.

This includes The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, both involved in the current FOIL request. The underlined statement emphasized both companies’ commitments to transparency.

Additionally, it highlighted their willingness to engage with journalists and regulatory authorities. However, such engagement is contingent upon the stakeholders above adhering to ethical reporting standards and respecting data privacy boundaries.

Tether & Bitfinex’s FOIL Transparency

Tether and Bitfinex suggested a “responsible pre-publication review” before any publication. They claim that their efforts at a transparent approach do not mean they should freely release all documents.

In February 2021, a settlement was reached by Tether and Bitfinex with NYAG as part of the second FOIL request. First reported by CNBC, the settlement features an amount of $18.5 million. The two-year-long legal procedure concluded as they resolved $850 million in mixed customer and company claims concerning merging.

Tether and Bitfinex must provide NYAG quarterly transparency reports for two years as part of the settlement agreement. After performing these duties, I filed a FOIL complaint in New York. The motion demands public access to the first quarter data generated under the settlement.

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Tether’s reasons for objecting to the FOIL request are that it wants to protect the privacy for public disclosure of “confidential customer information” and that which can be referred to as “sensitive commercial information” that malicious actors could potentially misuse.