A Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request filed in New York by several prominent news outlets has been met with initial support from Tether and Bitfinex.
In response to CoinDesk’s FOIL request earlier this year, the USDT stablecoin issuer and cryptocurrency exchange assured Cointelegraph that they would provide information transparently.Additionally, the corporations said that the method was inconsistent with their business standards and that they would not be publicly disclosing documentation.
“It’s essential to clarify that transparency does not mean a wholesale release of all our documents.”
Tether and Bitfinex have decided not to file an appeal against the FOIL request that was submitted by journalists Ada Hui, Shane Shifflett, and Zeke Faux, who they claim are engaging in “certain behaviors.”Faux’s previous investigations on Tether and Bitfinex, according to the firms, have “extended beyond the boundaries of professional journalism.”In addition, they allege that journalists from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, whose publications are taking part in the current FOIL request, have been “one-sided and inaccurate.”
The statement emphasizes that both businesses “adhere to ethical reporting standards and respect data privacy boundaries,” and that they are dedicated to transparency and will continue to be accessible for interaction with the media and government agencies.Noting that their attempts at transparency do not “equate to unrestricted public disclosure of all documents,” Tether and Bitfinex also demanded “responsible document review” prior to any information being made public.
The deal that Tether and Bitfinex reached with the New York Attorney General (NYAG) in February 2021 is the subject of the current FOIL request.The arrangement, which was first revealed by CNBC, called for paying a $18.5 million fine in order to resolve a lawsuit that had been pending for two years over the purported misappropriation of $850 million in customer and company assets.As part of the settlement, Tether and Bitfinex agreed to provide the NYAG with quarterly transparency reports for a period of two years.Following the completion of these duties, CoinDesk filed a FOIL request in New York, requesting the public release of Tether’s first quarter submission papers that it had provided in accordance with the settlement agreement.
Tether stated in June 2023 that it had rejected the FOIL request in order to stop “sensitive commercial information” from being used and “confidential customer data” from being made public because it was concerned that “malicious actors” might take advantage of it.