Tether is out with a statement regarding its dollar based stablecoin USD₮. The commentary by Tether may be in response to an interview with SEC Chairman Gary Gensler that took place on CNBC this morning when Tether was discussed by name with Gensler comparing stablecoins to banks or money market funds.
Tether, the largest stablecoin by market cap, defended its operations as resilient noting that during the worst “black swan event” for the crypto industry so far, Tether has been able to “effortlessly” process redemptions adding that Tether’s trading volume has been 10x the volume of its closest competitor (USDC).
“This demonstrates the utility of and the demand for Tether in daily trading, a true measure of adoption.”
Tether stated:
“Tether’s competitors are often portrayed as more “transparent” than Tether and pundits will use this framing to construct a narrative that users choose them over Tether due to these qualities. It does not reflect reality in any way. Tether was the first stablecoin to provide attestations to the nature and breakdown of its reserves. Its competitors only provided this same level of transparency once Tether did. Tether is critiqued for not having an audit, meanwhile, no stablecoin has ever produced an audit. That will change soon.”
Tether said that it will soon complete an audit from a “Big 12” accounting firm noting that it is not utilizing a Big 4 firm as these companies are concerned about “reputational risk” as federal regulators for stablecoins still do not exist.
Tether said it will be the first stablecoin to provide an audit, something they anticipate other firms will soon follow.