Crypto exchange Bitfinex on Sunday rejected all claims made against it in another class-action lawsuit filed last week.
Per Bitfinex, this is a “copycat” brought in by mercenary lawyers against the exchange and its sister company Tether for manipulating Bitcoin prices using the stablecoin.
The lawsuit filed on Friday in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington is the second of its kind as a bunch of lawyers already dragged the exchange to US District Court for the Southern District of New York in October with similar allegations.
“As we predicted last month, mercenary lawyers continue to try to use Bitfinex and Tether to obtain a payday,” the exchange stated.
“To be clear, there will be no nuisance settlements or settlements of any kind reached. Instead, all claims raised across both actions will be vigorously contested and ultimately disposed of in due course. Once they are, Bitfinex and Tether will fully evaluate their legal options against those bringing and promoting the baseless claims.”
The controversial duo of crypto
Bitfinex and Tether both are operated by a single parent company - iFinex - and has the same executives controlling the companies and are laden with controversies.
Research published earlier by two academics revealed that the Tether was used to manipulate Bitcoin prices, which led to its rally in 2017. Moreover, the market manipulation was done on Bitfinex, putting both the companies under scrutiny.
Bitfinex and Tether, however, quashed all claims made against them in the paper and called the study “foundationally flawed.”
“Bitfinex and its Affiliates have never used Tether tokens or issuances to manipulate the cryptocurrency market or token pricing,” Bitfinex noted. “It is irresponsible to suggest that Tether or Bitfinex enable illicit activity due to the efficiency, Liquidity and wide-scale applicability of Tether's products within the cryptocurrency economy.”
