Bitfinex / Tether

2012-01-01

Bitfinex founded by Raphael Nicolle; Jean-Louis van der Velde joined as CEO in 2013.

2014-11-01

Tether (originally Realcoin) launched as the first fiat-backed stablecoin, pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar.

2016-06-02

CFTC issues an order against Bitfinex prohibiting it from offering off-exchange financed retail commodity transactions to ineligible U.S. customers.

2016-08-02

Bitfinex hacked; 119,756 BTC (approximately $72 million at the time) stolen. Bitfinex imposes a generalized ~36% haircut on all user balances, issuing BFX tokens as IOUs.

2017-04-03

Bitfinex redeems all outstanding BFX tokens at full face value ($1 per token), completing repayment to affected customers within approximately eight months of the hack.

2017-07-01

NYAG investigation later found that starting no later than mid-2017, Tether had no access to banking anywhere in the world, holding no effective reserves to back USDT.

2019-04-25

New York Attorney General's Office files action against iFinex, alleging Bitfinex used Tether reserves to conceal an $850 million loss caused by funds seized from Crypto Capital Corp.

2019-10-01

SDNY indicts Crypto Capital principal Oz Yosef on three criminal counts including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and operating an unlicensed money transmitter.

2021-02-23

NYAG settlement announced: Bitfinex and Tether pay $18.5 million, accept permanent ban from serving New York customers, and agree to quarterly reserve disclosure reporting.

2021-07-26

Reports emerge that the DOJ has opened a criminal investigation into Tether executives for alleged bank fraud in the early days of the stablecoin's operations.

2021-10-15

CFTC orders Tether to pay $41 million and Bitfinex to pay $1.5 million for reserve misrepresentation. CFTC finds USDT was only fully backed on 27.6% of days sampled between 2016 and 2018.

2022-02-08

U.S. federal authorities arrest Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather R. Morgan on conspiracy to launder approximately 119,756 BTC from the 2016 Bitfinex hack; approximately $3.6 billion in bitcoin seized.

2022-10-31

DOJ bank-fraud investigation into Tether transferred to U.S. Attorney for the SDNY for a fresh review after alleged months of stagnation.

2023-08-03

Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan both plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

2023-10-13

Tether promotes CTO Paolo Ardoino to CEO; Jean-Louis van der Velde transitions to an advisory role for Tether while retaining his position as CEO of Bitfinex.

2024-11-15

Ilya Lichtenstein sentenced to five years in federal prison; Heather Morgan sentenced to 18 months in prison. Total funds recovered from the Bitfinex hack estimated at approximately $10 billion.

2025-01-01

Tether announces plans to relocate its corporate domicile to El Salvador, establishing its first official head office there.

2026-03-27

Tether engages KPMG to conduct its first full financial statement audit of approximately $185 billion in USDT reserves; PwC engaged to prepare internal systems ahead of planned U.S. market expansion.