Bitfinex CTO Reinforces Rumors Exchange Has Raised $1 Billion in IEO

The CTO of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex appeared to confirm the entity had raised $1 billion in fresh investment in new social media comments on May 13.

Following rumors that began with a major shareholder in the platform announcing $1 billion confirmed in hard and soft commitments, CTO Paolo Ardoino took to Twitter on Monday to report that Bitfinex’s private token sale, which ended May 11, had sold out.

The sale, which involves new in-house LEO tokens via a so-called initial exchange offering (IEO), comes as Bitfinex grapples with a funding gap of $850 million and an associated legal indictment.

“Private companies, giants in our industry and outside, made investments for > 100m each. A legion of inside and outside users made investments for > 1m each,” Ardoino wrote, without disclosing the identities of the parties.

Bitfinex had originally planned a ten-day window for private token purchases, followed by a discretionary public phase in the event supply was left over.

Ardoino originally stated the funds had come in the form of stablecoin tether (USDT), whose backing entity share a CEO with Bitfinex, but amended the information when quizzed by eToro senior market analyst Mati Greenspan.

Bitfinex, Ardoino confirmed, received the investment in both USDT and unspecified other formats.

As Cointelegraph reported, the legal debacle over Bitfinex’s control of the $850 million in question is ongoing. Last week, a New York judge criticized the original complaints, which were brought by the jurisdiction’s Attorney General, calling them too broad in scope.

Markets have meanwhile shaken off the uncertainty surrounding the events, bitcoin (BTC) reaching multi-month highs of over $7,500 this weekend.