Tether adds Bahamas-based private bank Britannia as partner: Report

Tether, the stablecoin issuer behind USDT, has reportedly added Britannia Bank & Trust, a private bank based in The Bahamas to process dollar transfers on its platform.

It is understood Tether has instructed clients to send money to Britannia’s bank account over the last few months, according to an Aug. 29 report by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

However, it isn’t clear when Tether’s banking relationship with Britannia Bank started, but its other reported banking partners include Deltec Bank and Capital Union Bank.

In recent months, United States-based cryptocurrency firms have had to increasingly look offshore for banking partners amid increased scrutiny by U.S. regulators following the shock collapse of FTX in November.

Tether’s unwillingness to publicly disclose the full extent of its balance sheet and banking relationships has also fueled industry FUD (an acronym for fear, uncertainty and doubt) in the past over how the stablecoin issuer stores its $86 billion in assets.

Related: US Fed steps up oversight of banks' involvement with crypto firms

Tether’s USDT currently dominates the stablecoin market, with its $82.9 billion market cap representing 66.5% of the total market, according to CoinGecko.

USDT’s market cap rallied over 20% to $80 billion over the first four months of 2023 — amid the banking crisis involving Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank — but has since steadied out around the $80-82 billion since then.