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Bitfinex-Issued LEO Tokens Were Bought by US Investors Despite Ban List

US-based institutional investors have managed to buy LEO tokens emitted by Bitfinex, using third parties

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Cover image via CryptoComes.com

Two companies – from Seattle and Los Angeles – have said they managed to invest in the recent closed token offering by Bitfinex, LEO. The companies’ names are Arrington XRP Capital and Arca.

As reported by Coindesk, both have bought LEO tokens via third parties in a legal manner. This issue is crucial since at present Bitfinex is defending itself in court in New York, proving that it has not provided services to retail investors from the US since summer 2017 and to legal entities as of summer 2018.

However, the NY Attorney General (NYAG) states that the exchange has had business with several companies from New York this year.

Hitting a ‘brick wall’

Michael Arrington from Arrington XRP Capital said that his company is based in the Caymans but he himself is a US citizen. His company bought Bitfinex’s tokens via a third party. AS per him, the company ‘hit a brick wall’ when they made an attempt to do it without intermediaries.

The second company, Arca, is based in the British Virgin Islands, has also got LEO tokens using services of a third party.

Even though the NYAG states that Bitfinex has been working in the US for longer than it reports, the attorney has not said anything about LEO being sold to US investors indirectly.

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LEO emittance

Bitfinex issued LEO tokens not long ago this year after losing $850 mln last year and allegedly planning to reimburse its losses this way.

The exchange lost its money which back then was being secured by Crypto Capital payment processing company. The operators of the latter were given charges of criminal activities this year.

In order to compensate the loss to its investors, Bitfinex took a loan in USDT from its partner –  Tether Ltd. Later on, to repay the debt, it went for launching its own native token LEO, only for institutional investors.

The white paper of the project said that US investors would not be allowed to participate in the purchase.

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Yuri Molchan

Yuri entered the crypto sphere at the BTC price peak in 2017, quickly turning into a crypto enthusiast. He has written for several media, covering everything from TA to ICOs and crypto regulations. Presently is a news writer, working with crypto and blockchain-related topics.