Er, hi. Small Q. Where's our billion dollars gone? El Reg summarizes Bitcoin exchange's subpoena request

iFinex, the parent company of crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex, is seeking a subpoena against payment processor Crypto Capital in its quest to recover more than $880m in missing funds.

Giancarlo Devasini, chief financial officer for iFinex, filed the subpoena application [PDF] in a US federal district court in California on October 18.

Drama – Year – New – York – Attorney

The drama started earlier this year when New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Bitfinex of inappropriately covering up massive losses by reaching into the vaults of Tether, a so-called “stablecoin” in that each Tether token is backed by an American dollar held in reserves. By siphoning from Tether’s reserves, Bitfinex could temporarily cover its lost funds, it was claimed, a move that attracted scrutiny and the eye of the NY AG.

Bitfinex and Tether are both ultimately headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, and are said [PDF] to be owned and run by the same executives and staff. This left prosecutors and industry watchers with a burning questions: where exactly did all that money supposedly held by Bifinex go?

Bitfinex – People – Bitcoin – Currencies – Trade

For the uninitiated, Bitfinex allows people to buy Bitcoin using real-world currencies, trade that digital dosh, and then convert the crypto-coins back into traditional money, such as the US dollar, British pound, Japanese yen, and euros.

However, roughly a billion dollars of real-world dosh, deposited by Bitfinex customers, mysteriously evaporated.

IFinex – Situation – Crypto – Capital – Payment

iFinex blamed the situation on Crypto Capital, a payment processor hired to convert punters’ normal money into Bitcoin and back again to dollars, pounds, euros, and so on, when they want to cash out. Crypto Capital claimed the funds it held on behalf of Bitfinex customers were seized by authorities in Poland, Portugal, and the UK amid allegations of money laundering.

Now, iFinex has filed a…

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