Is Tether Next? CEO Responds To Brad Garlinghouse’s Claims Of US Gov’t Persecution

General

In
a
recent
podcast
interview,
Ripple’s
CEO
Brad
Garlinghouse
stated
that
Tether,
the
largest
Stablecoin
issuer
by
market
share,
is
next
on
the
US
government’s
target
list.
Tether’s
CEO,
Paolo
Ardoino,
refuted
Garlinghouse’s
comments
and
accused
him
of
spreading
fear.

Is
Tether
Next
In
Line?

Ripple’s
CEO

joined
Quantum’s
founder,
Chris
Vasquez,
for
his
World
Class
podcast
on
May
10.
During
the
interview,
he
discussed
his
outlook
for
the
future
of
crypto
and
his
thoughts
on
the
US
government’s
crackdown
on
the
industry.

Regarding
unforeseen
circumstances,
Garlinghouse
believes
the
crypto
market
has
shown
remarkable
resilience
despite
the
adversities.
The
CEO
used
the
downfall
of
FTX
and
the
immense
regulatory
scrutiny
that
Binance
has
faced
over
the
last
couple
of
years
to
back
his
point.

Two
years
ago,
FTX
and
Binance
were
two
of
the
most
influential
companies
in
the
industry.
Similarly,
their
founders
and
CEOs,
Sam
Bankman-Fried
and
Changpeng
‘CZ’
Zhao,
were
some
of
the
most
important
players
in
crypto,
as
Garlinghouse
highlighted.

Since
then,
SBF
has
been
sentenced
to
20
years
in
prison,
while
CZ
has
stepped
down
as
Binance’s
CEO
and
was
recently

sentenced
to
a
four-month
incarceration.
To
Ripple’s
CEO,
these
events
would
have
been
impossible
to
predict,
adding
that
black
swans
are
“hard
to
know”
as
unpredictability
is
part
of
the
event’s
nature.

Despite
this,
he
considers
what
the
community
and
industry
have
endured
over
the
years
shows
a
positive
side,
as
the
“freaking
resilience
of
this
industry
and
market
(…)
should
give
us
immense
optimism
about
what’s
coming.”

Garlinghouse
believes
there
will
be
another
Black
Swan.
 He
also
stated
that
it
would
be
“an
interesting
one
to
watch,”
despite
not
being
sure
what
it
could
be.

To
him,
it’s
clear
that
the
“US
government
is
going
after
Tether.”
Ultimately,
he
added
that
a
crackdown
on
the
company
could
have
a
big
impact
due
to
its
“important
part
of
the
crypto
ecosystem.”

Tether’s
CEO
Responds

On
Monday,
Paolo
Ardoino
took
X
to
respond
to
the
comments.
The
CEO
called
Garlinghouse
“an
uninformed
CEO,”
and
suggested
that
he
was

spreading
FUD
(fear,
uncertainty,
and
doubt)
about
USDT.

Ardoino
seemingly
took
the
comments
as
an
attack
from
someone
“leading
a
company
being
investigated
by
the
SEC,
launching
a
competitive
stablecoin.”
 As
a
result,
he
decided
to
update
the
community
on
the
safety
of
Tether’s
ecosystem.

The
CEO
highlighted
USDT’s
status
as
“the
most
used
stablecoin
in
the
world,
with
hundreds
of
millions
of
users
across
primarily
emerging
markets
and
developing
countries.”
 Moreover,
he
added
that
most
mainstream
media
reporters
refuse
to
report
data
regarding
Tether’s
global
compliance
work.

Ardoino’s
post
listed
various
factors
that
affect

Tether’s
compliance.
These
included
Tether’s
collaboration
with
124
law
enforcement
agencies
across
40+
countries,
its
respect
for
the
OFAC
/
SDN
lists,
and
its
blockage
of
over
$1.3
billion
related
to
scams,
hacks,
money
laundering,
and
terrorist
financing.

To
the
CEO,
the
refusal
to
share
Tether’s
statistics
sets
a
“sensationalistic”
narrative
against
the
usage
of
stablecoins
and
cryptocurrencies
worldwide,
likely
to
protect
the
old
guard
of
the
financial
establishment.

Garlinghouse

responded
to
the
post,
clarifying
his
intentions
behind
the
comments.
He
explained
that
he
wasn’t
attacking
the
stablecoin
issuer.
Instead,
he
pointed
out
that
the
US
government
had
“clearly
indicated
they
want
more
control
over
USD-backed
stablecoin
issuers.”

Thus,
Tether’s
status
as
the
largest
player
in
the
sector
made
it
“first
in
line”
for
a
regulatory
crackdown.

Crypto, total market cap, Tether, USDT, stablecoins
The
total
crypto
market
cap
is
at
$2.23
trillion
on
the
3-day
chart.
Source:
TOTAL
on

TradingView

Featured
Image
from
Unsplash.com,
Chart
from
TradingView.com

You might also like More from author

Comments are closed.