After dissolving its relationship with Noble Bank, rumors swirled about Bitfinex’s imminent implosion. The exchange has now responded to the rumors.
Last week, rumors about the possible insolvency of exchange Bitfinex quickly followed reports that Noble Bank International, the Puerto Rican institution that counted Bitfinex and Tether among its clients, was looking for a buyer. The Bloomberg article[1] that first reported the Noble story cited an unnamed "person with direct knowledge of the situation" in support of the claims. Noble declined to comment for the article and has apparently still made no announcement about seeking a buyer.
The rumors gained another wrinkle when, on October 3, Bitfinex announced[2] it would be shutting down for routine maintenance the following day.
The worst fears were never realized. Instead of shutting down and never reopening (as happened with MtGox), on the following day, Bitfinex announced via Twitter that the upgrade was successfully completed:
On Sunday, the company took to its official blog in an attempt to put the rumors to rest. According to the sharply worded post[3], "Bitfinex is not insolvent, and a constant stream of Medium articles claiming otherwise is not going to change this."
However, fittingly for the exchange, which has a tendency to avoid transparency[4], the post sidesteps one of the main questions at issue: Did Bitfinex lose its relationship with its bank, again[5]? Instead the post states: "Stories and allegations currently circulating mentioning an entity called Noble Bank have no impact on our operations, survivability, or solvency."
Though the phrasing may imply Bitfinex has little familiarity with Noble, the exchange has had a relationship[6] with the bank since sometime in 2017, though according to a Bloomberg article
