Circle had previously banned accounts of crypto funds supported by Tether, but later received an arbitration ruling in support

According to the Financial Times, based on the latest publicly available court documents, the stablecoin issuer Circle had banned the crypto fund Heka Funds, supported by Tether, at the end of 2023 due to suspicions that it was manipulating the market through large-scale arbitrage operations and helping Tether expand its market share. The documents show that during the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) crisis in 2023, USDC briefly fell below the $1 peg. Heka continuously bought discounted USDC in large quantities and redeemed it for cash from Circle. Circle believed that Heka's redemption scale far exceeded that of other market participants and suspected that the related funds ultimately flowed to Tether to help expand its USDT market size.

Arbitration documents also revealed that Tether had invested about $800 million in Heka, accounting for about 75% of the fund's assets, and waived the stablecoin minting fees. The arbitrator found that Heka did not truthfully disclose its supportive relationship with Tether and was aware that the related information would raise concerns for Circle. In 2024, Heka initiated arbitration due to its account being frozen, claiming approximately $49 million in lost profits. In February of this year, the arbitrator dismissed all of Heka's claims, determining that it had engaged in malicious behavior and ordered it to pay Circle about $166,000 in attorney and expert fees. Heka denied any market manipulation and stated that it had never been subject to regulatory investigation; Circle declined to comment, and Tether did not respond to media requests for comment.