Tether and Bitfinex settle with New York Attorney General for $18.5M

On February 23, 2021, Tether and Bitfinex agreed to pay $18.5 million and stop serving New York customers to settle a multi-year probe by Attorney General Letitia James. The settlement confirmed that Tether's claim of being fully backed by U.S. dollars "at all times" was, in the AG's words, "a lie," and that roughly $850 million in commingled client and corporate funds had been quietly papered over. The companies admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to two years of quarterly reserve disclosures, finally putting an official stamp on years of stablecoin-backing speculation.