According to CoinDesk, stablecoin issuer Tether has deposited over $1 billion with a financial services firm, which is now at the center of a legal battle in London's High Court. The funds were reportedly deposited with a subsidiary of investment bank Britannia Financial. The bank is currently engaged in a legal dispute with British Virgin Islands-registered Arbitral International, which alleges that Britannia failed to pay the full price for a Bahamas brokerage it bought from Arbitral in June 2021.
Arbitral claims it is entitled to extra money from assets generated by the business in the year following the sale, based on an agreement between the two firms. However, Britannia argues that Tether deposited the funds with its subsidiary, Britannia Global Markets, and the transaction is unrelated to the brokerage it bought from Arbitral. Tether's USDT is the world's largest stablecoin, providing crypto users with a hedge against the volatility that often plagues cryptocurrencies. Tether's $86.4 billion worth of assets are primarily held in U.S. Treasuries, with $5.2 billion worth of secured loans also included. Tether did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.