Following the collapse of Signature Bank last month, New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) took over most of its assets and some loans. However, all crypto-related clients were informed that their accounts would be closed soon. Signet, the proprietary software of Signature Bank, which allowed crypto clients to transact in USD across platforms at all hours, was under receivership at the FDIC.
No Direct Exposure
Despite Signature Bank’s collapse, Tether’s CTO, Paolo Ardoino, stated that Tether had no exposure to the bank. Nonetheless, unnamed sources revealed that the company used Signet. Tether, in response to the revelation, stated that it used several channels to maintain links to the global banking system, and Signet was only one of them. The use of Signet to deal with Tether was either sanctioned by Signature Bank or a way to deal with Tether without taking on all the risk of working with an offshore stablecoin company.
No Accusations of Wrongdoing
Although it’s unclear whether this arrangement was set in stone for all such transactions, Tether has never been sanctioned, so there would not have been any legal risk for Signature in dealing with Tether. Furthermore, Signature Bank and its employees have not been accused of any wrongdoing in this regard.
