On Sunday, Tether, the issuing company behind the largest and most widely used stablecoin in the market USDT, marked an important milestone by celebrating its stablecoin. 10 years.
The latest interview via FOX Business, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino addressed widespread criticism of the company’s alleged lack of transparency about its reserves and recent successes and initiatives.
Tether’s Surveillance Task Force
Ardoino, who entered the scene The role of the CEO in 2023 after serving as the tech company’s CEO for six years, he outlined Tether’s plans to renew its brand in the coming months.
These efforts include building relationships with US law enforcement agencies and developing partnerships with retailer Cantor Fitzgerald and its CEO, Howard Lutnick.
Ardoino stressed that Tether is now working with more than 180 law enforcement agencies across 45 jurisdictions, including the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
This cooperation with law enforcement has been important, as the Department of Justice has approved Tether’s assistance freezing illegal funds. Recently, Tether partnered with other crypto firms, including Tron and TRM Labs, to establish a monitoring team to combat financial crimes related to USDT.
Arduino noticed that Tether has something 350 million users around the world, most of whom live in developing countries where they use USDT as a hedge against “weak financial systems and unstable currencies”:
People are sick and tired of poor fiscal decisions from their governments. We need to make sure our ecosystem stays safe so we can continue to help them.
Allegations of Finance and Corruption
Despite this, Tether has faced ongoing criticism from regulators over alleged illegal financial involvement, including. money laundering and ransomware payments. Allegations suggest that the company has allowed sanctioned countries such as North Korea, Russia, and Iran, to avoid regular financial systems, which contribute to crime and terrorism.
This summer, Tether became the target of a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign by the nonprofit group Consumers Research, which accused the company of corruption through digital billboards in Times Square and television ads.
Addressing this criticism, Ardoino admitted that Tether “has been empty in the past,” failing to respond adequately to concerns, pointing out that the company did not establish a public relations team until 2022, “I feel sad because it is a distortion of technology. and a company that helps hundreds of millions of people,” he says like this.
As part of its efforts to combat illegal activities, Tether has blocked more than 1.8 billion USDT from more than 1,850 crypto wallets, coordinating closely with US agencies in 636 of these actions.
I Hope To Change Attitudes Under Digital Goods
During the interview, Arduino also expressed openness to being audited by one of the “Big Four” accounting firms in the US but pointed to the current regulatory environment as an obstacle.
The CEO highlighted the challenges posed by anti-crypto lawmakers, especially Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, which complicates the ability of auditors to cooperate crypto companiesespecially those outside the US.
Looking ahead, Arduino hopes that the outcome of the upcoming US election in November will change the regulatory attitude in the digital goods market:
When I was a child, I remember that the US was the king of all new technologies and discoveries. For the first time in history, the US has dropped the ball on almost one of the most revolutionary technologies of our time.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com