The CEO of stablecoin issuer Tether has denied newspaper reports that the cryptocurrency company is being investigated by US law enforcement.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a tweet on Friday that there is “no indication” the company is under investigation.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the federal government is investigating Tether for violating sanctions and anti-money laundering rules, citing people familiar with the matter.
As we told WSJ, there is no indication that Tether is under investigation. WSJ is regurgitating old noise. Full stop.
— Paolo Ardoino 🤖🍐 (@paoloardoino) October 25, 2024
Additionally, prosecutors reported that they are investigating whether Tether is being used by third parties to fund criminal activities such as drug trafficking.
“As told to WSJ, there is no indication that Tether is under investigation,” Ardoino wrote on Twitter (also known as X).
He added: “The Journal is regurgitating the same old noise. It’s a complete stop.”
A Tether spokesperson told Decrypt: “We cannot publish an article containing such credibly reckless claims when authorities have no records to confirm these rumors and the sources have not been named. WSJ’s writing is extremely irresponsible.” “These articles are based purely on rank,” the speculation goes, even though Tether has acknowledged that it is not aware of any such investigation into the company. The article also inadvertently glosses over Tether’s well-documented and extensive dealings with law enforcement to crack down on bad actors who seek to misuse Tether and other cryptocurrencies. ”
Tether is the third largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and Ethereum, and is working to mint the largest stablecoin, USDT. A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency that is backed by another asset, typically the US dollar, to which Tether is pegged.
According to CoinGecko, USDT has a market capitalization of $120 billion and is the most traded cryptocurrency, with a 24-hour trading volume of $46.7 billion.
Cryptocurrencies are the backbone of the industry, and traders use them to quickly enter and exit trades without using traditional banks or fiat currencies.
However, the company is a controversial company. The main reason for this is skepticism surrounding the backing of their tokens. The company has not had its reserves independently audited by any of the Big Four accounting firms, but it frequently points to quarterly certifications and daily transparency reports as evidence of that. standing.
Back in 2021, Tether agreed not to do business in New York after a two-year state attorney general investigation found the company had “made false statements about the backing” of its tokens.
WSJ previously reported that the companies behind Tether used fake documents and shell companies to help their parent company enter the banking system. Tether strongly denied this report.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to include comments from Tether.
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