According to the Chief Technology Officer at Bitfinex, the popular and controversial cryptocurrency exchange has managed to raise a total of $1 billion in a private sale.

Bitfinex Closes $1B Private Sale

Bitfinex, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, has managed to raise $1 billion in 10 days during a private sale, according to the company’s CTO, Paolo Ardoino.

He took to social media to reveal that private companies have invested over $100 million each, while a lot of other investors have put up more than $1 million each. Supposedly, the private sale lasted for 10 days.

. @bitfinex is able to raise 1b USDt in 10 days, in a private sale. 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. — Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) May 13, 2019

As Cryptopotato reported earlier in April, the cryptocurrency exchange was rumored to plan an Initial Exchange Offering in order to raise $1 billion. Later on, the company released an official white paper document which planned the ten-day window for the private token sale, followed by a discretionary phase of public selling if there was any supply of tokens left over.

Androino, however, also said that there is a “small allocation left and we just prefer to share to small investors until there is time,” hinting that there might be a public sale after all.

$1B Worth of USDT? Not So Much

One of the first things that made an impression was the fact that Androino said that Bitfinex raised $1 billion in USDT. The entire market cap of USDT is currently around $2.8 billion, suggesting that more than 30 percent of that went directly into Bitfinex’s private sale.

Speaking on the matter was popular cryptocurrency commentator and analyst at eToro, Mati Greenspan, who said:

Bitfinex is claiming that they’ve already raised 1 billion USDT from private investors in just 10 days. The total market cap of USDT is $2.76 Billion

Androino was quick to answer, outlining that they had also accepted USD and that he should have clarified that the $1 billion was raised in “USDT or USDT equivalents.”

The event comes not so long after Bitfinex was served with a court order by the New York Attorney General, alleging the coverup of $850 million loss with Tether reserves. Bitfinex has since responded to the court order, outlining that it was written in “bad faith” and “is riddled with false assertions.”