Today, we have filed an Article 78 proceeding to prevent the release of certain materials we provided to the New York Attorney General’s Office as part of our reporting commitments under the settlement agreement signed earlier this year. This information was provided at our suggestion and in good faith to demonstrate to the Attorney General’s Office that the information they relied on to agree to the resolution remains consistent.
As outlined in our filings, disclosure of this information beyond the Attorney General’s Office will harm Tether’s competitive position in the marketplace and unnecessarily and unduly invade the privacy of third parties. The original Records Access Officer in the Attorney General’s Office agreed with us.
We understand our evolving industry creates a desire for transparency and understanding of how stablecoins work. Tether continues to lead the industry in providing information about its reserves to give clarity and transparency into our operations. Tether is also in the process of obtaining audited financial statements and hopes to produce these within the coming months.
However, Tether is a private business. As all private companies do, we maintain certain proprietary details about our operations to continue our competitive advantage as a leader in the industry. In any other industry, this type of proprietary, competitively sensitive information would be clearly and strongly protected, and the same should be true for us and for any other company in the crypto ecosystem. Therefore, we vigorously oppose the notion that proprietary information of our company, or any company in our community, should be made public simply to satisfy Internet trolls or other detractors.
Our customers continue to place their trust and confidence in Tether, as exhibited through our growth. In doing so, they are telling us and the market that our disclosures are sufficient to make well-informed decisions.
Finally, contrary to the wild and false speculation of online trolls, Tether and Bitfinex have provided the New York Attorney General’s Office with complete and timely quarterly reports under the settlement agreement.
We look forward to a judicial determination of this matter by the New York Supreme Court.