Britannia Financial, Tether’s Bank Partner, is being sued on suspicion that it neglected to remit the complete value of revenue-generating assets purportedly associated with a $1 billion deposit from Tether.
Arbitral International, a British Virgin Islands-based company, has filed suit against Britannia regarding a $1 billion deposit from Tether, according to court documents filed with the London High Court in 2023 and obtained by the Financial Times on November 21.
The lawsuit pertains to Britannia’s acquisition of Arbitral Securities, a brokerage business in the Bahamas. In October 2021, Britannia disclosed the acquisition, which entailed the integration of the brokerage into its existing entity, Britannia Securities.
A year after the transaction, Britannia Financial and Arbitral Securities reached an agreement, according to the new report, that Britannia Financial would pay an additional amount proportional to the number of revenue-generating assets held by Arbitral Securities. This reportedly included clients initially introduced by arbitral or related parties, as stipulated in the agreement.
The report cited court documents stating that Tether partnered with a Britannia Financial subsidiary in November 2021.
According to reports, Aldo Mazzella, a “professional introducer” believed to have had a business relationship with Tether since approximately 2017, introduced Britannia Financial to the cryptocurrency. Conversely, Arbitral Securities asserted that an executive was also involved in the partnership between Britannia and Tether.
A few months before the current development, Bloomberg reported that Tether had added Britannia Bank and Trust, a private bank based in the Bahamas, to its platform to facilitate dollar transfers. According to reports, additional banking associates comprised Deltec Bank and Capital Union Bank.
Paolo Ardoino, the newly appointed CEO of Tether and chief technology officer of Tether, reportedly previously asserted that the stablecoin company maintained robust partnerships with over seven institutions.
According to data provided by CoinGecko, the market capitalization of Tether’s stablecoin is approaching $90 billion as it has progressively gained traction. The value of USDT reached an all-time peak of $88 billion on November 20, representing a 33% increase since the start of 2023.
According to Tether, USDT’s market capitalization increased by over $20 billion in 2023 due to two significant factors, including ongoing market enthusiasm surrounding the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Demand expansion in emergent markets, such as Brazil, has reportedly contributed to Tether’s unprecedented growth.
