Can Brittania Lawsuit Derail Tether Stablecoin Growth?

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Brittania Financial, a key banking partner of Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, is currently embroiled in a legal dispute involving a significant deposit made by Tether.

The controversy centers around a $1 billion deposit from Tether, with the lawsuit being filed by Arbitral International, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. The allegations suggest that Brittania Financial did not pay the full price for revenue-generating assets, which were supposedly related to this substantial deposit from Tether.

Brittania faces a lawsuit from Arbitral International

The core of the lawsuit revolves around Britannia’s acquisition of Arbitral’s Bahamas-based brokerage business, Arbitral Securities. This acquisition, announced in October 2021, led to integrating Arbitral Securities into Britannia Securities.

The dispute arose from an agreement where Britannia Financial was supposed to pay an additional amount based on the revenue-generating assets held by Arbitral Securities a year after the sale, including clients introduced by Arbitral or related parties.

Interestingly, Tether opened an account with a subsidiary of Britannia Financial in November 2021. Aldo Mazzella, a professional introducer with a commercial relationship with Tether since around 2017, reportedly introduced Britannia Financial to Tether. However, Arbitral contended that an Arbitral Securities executive also played a significant role in facilitating the Britannia-Tether partnership.

Nonetheless, Tether’s partnership with Brittania is particularly notable as Tether is recognized as the largest stablecoin issuer globally. The primary purpose of this collaboration is to facilitate the processing of dollar transfers on Tether’s platform​​.

However, in a broader context, this partnership emerges against increasing reluctance from US banks to engage with crypto-related businesses due to the undefined regulatory framework. Meanwhile, Tether is the largest stablecoin issuer.

Tether market cap at new record high

Tether’s (USDT) market cap reached a fresh record high of over $88 billion on Nov. 21. Several factors triggered the surge, including the revival of the crypto market due to the heightened Spot Bitcoin ETF hype and the rekindled investor interest in crypto trading.

As CoinChapter reported in mid-October, the USDT supply on exchanges reached a year-high. However, the balance has dropped since, albeit insignificantly. As of Nov. 21, Tether’s supply on exchanges stood at 23%, against October’s 25% peak.

In conclusion, the lawsuit against Brittania will unlikely strip Tether of its reigning stablecoin issuer position. However, as a strategic partner, banks influence Tether’s liquidity, as the company claims to back all of its $88 billion worth of Tether in US dollars, cryptocurrency, and precious metals, among other assets.

As the Brittania lawsuit story is still evolving, this article will be updated with the latest news.