Bitfinex stops banking with Wells Fargo, starts with a Hong Kong-based bank

After briefly banking with HSBC through a private account via Global Trading Solutions, Bitfinex is eyeing at banking with Hong Kong-based Bank of Communications through a private account via Prosperity Revenue Merchandising Limited, according to a report by The Block. Citibank is the moderator between the two in terms of US Dollar wire transfers to the exchange. Earlier in 2017, Wells Fargo was the bank closely working with the exchange. It was the correspondent bank for Bitfinex’s Taiwan-based banks. Since Wells Fargo couldn’t process the wire transferring into US Dollars, the exchange had to look elsewhere for a reliable banking partnership. There is a speculation doing the rounds that HSBC was not aware that it was providing banking for Bitfinex and thereby had to close the previous account all of a sudden. There is also doubt regarding the fact whether Citibank is aware of the fact that it is processing wire transfers for Bitfinex. In another development, the exchange announced on Tuesday that it has introduced a more 'resilient' fiat deposit system for sending fiat currencies to Bitfinex. The new fiat deposit system is termed as a distributed banking solution by the exchange. The new system will require more KYC documents and will also be succumbed to a meticulous review process which can take up to 48 hours. The exchange has rolled out this new fiat deposit system amid Tether, world's leading stablecoin losing its peg. Tether Limited, the company behind Tether and Bitfinex share the same management.  The exchange has failed to furnish audit to back its claims of each Tether token being backed $1 dollar cash reserve which has led to doubts relating to the actual stability of the coin. See Also: Binance CEO comments on Tether after exchange pauses its withdrawals OKEx adds four new stablecoins as Tether [USDT] loses stability Image via Shutterstock Join our telegram group