Tether was among a select group of investors that were accredited to take part in the Celsius funding round.
Tether International, the issuer of USDT is among the investors in the recent Celsius funding round. Celsius, the decentralized finance network announced that the sister company to Bitfinex is the highest investor in the round that has seen Celsius valuation at $120 million.
The company is a decentralized lending platform that claims it manages a $680 million portfolio with $17 million paid to depositors as interest.
The DeFi has been promoted as the future of lending. It currently has 100,000 active wallets.
The recent Celsius funding round was not opened to the public. Tether was among a select group of investors that were accredited to take part in the funding even though the company has not released the identity of other investors. Tether mints the stablecoin USDT which has been mired in controversy in the past. The company is currently under investigation by the attorney general of New York after the company and Bitfinex covered up shortfalls in its finances with the funds generated through the stablecoin. There were insinuations that Tether may have been used to offset $850 million Bitfinex deficit. The controversy around Tether started with its relationship with Bitfinex. Some analysts were of the opinion that the 2017 spike in the value of Bitcoin was the result of market manipulation linked to minting of the stablecoin.
Meanwhile, the Celsius funding is among the few times Tether has invested in a DeFi network. In an earlier investment, the company participated in Aave funding last March.
Celsius is a DeFi network that was built on the Ethereum blockchain. The lending platform gives users access to flash loans which are basically uncollateralized loans. This means that funds can be raised quickly.
The collaboration between Tether and Celsius goes beyond investor and funded startup. The CEO of Celsius, Alex Mashinsky said:
“We are proud to add Tether International as the first institution to participate in our equity fundraising.”
He added that the partnership would enable Celsius to operate USDT-based services to its users.
Celsius plans another funding round for $5 million. Like the previous one, it is not open to the public. Qualified investors would partake in the equity funding with a minimum investment of $1000. BnkToTheFuture, a crowdfunding platform would be in charge of the sale.