Tether Holdings Ltd. doesn’t have direct access to the US banking system, but for a while it found at least one pathway: through Signature Bank. 

Tether instructed crypto clients to pay for its stablecoins by sending dollars to its Bahamas-based banking partner Capital Union Bank Ltd. via Signature’s Signet payments platform. 
The arrangement underscores the difficulty crypto firms have had accessing a reluctant US banking system, even before Signature and crypto-friendly bank Silvergate Capital Corp. collapsed in March. If Signature knew about and allowed the arrangement, that may speak to a high risk appetite, Angotti said. “They may well have known and decided this is less risky than opening up an account for Tether directly.”