Stablecoin USDT issuer Tether slams WSJ’s “irresponsible reporting,” and says it stands by its “strong’ law enforcement track record. Notably, Tether’s reaction / response comes shortly after the WSJ reported that the stablecoin issuer could be under investigation by US authorities, possibly (and allegedly) including the US Treasury Department, FBI, and potentially other law enforcement agencies.
As widely reported, the WSJ claims that Tether might have sanctions introduced against it, which would effectively prevent the company from serving US clients. These sanctions, according to the article, may be enforced if Tether is found to be facilitating illicit activities by enabling transactions allegedly linked to drugs trafficking and other forms of unlawful activities. At this point, however, these are simply strong accusations and not enough information is currently available to verify these serious assertions.
According to a blog post by Tether, it is “wildly irresponsible” for WSJ to write articles with “reckless” allegations with such certainty when “no authorities” have gone on the record to confirm these rumors, and no sources are named.
As noted in the update from Tether, these stories are said to be based on “pure rank speculation” despite Tether confirming that it has “no knowledge of any such investigations into the company.”
Tether further noted that the article also “carelessly glosses over Tether’s well-documented and extensive dealings with law enforcement to crack down on bad actors seeking to misuse tether and other cryptocurrencies.”
During the past 7 years, Tether has frequently been the target of serious allegations which claim that the stablecoin issuer does not have adequate reserves to back the amount of USDT in circulation. However, Tether continues to claim that it does actually have enough cash reserves, cash equivalents, and other assets to sufficiently back the amount of USDT issued and circulating in the market at any given time.
In addition to concerns around Tether’s reserves, many other crypto firms and exchanges have also been accused of not handling client deposits properly. Due to these reasons, many companies have come forward to provide Proof of Reserves reports which aim to increase transparency by revealing just how much in assets a company is holding and has available at any given time.
