Is Tether ($USDT) The Biggest Scam In Human History?
Why Tether Will Never Be Audited
Tether ($USDT) reached close to the market cap the CTO of the stablecoin predicted at the beginning of the 2020–2021 boom cycle for cryptocurrencies.
Paolo Ardoino (Tether’s CTO) predicted USDT could easily reach a $100 Billion market cap, a move that suggests the circulation of 100 billion $USDT tokens in the cryptocurrency field.
US financial authorities fined Tether last year (for $41 million) for wrongfully claiming its token was backed 1:1 by assets when admittedly it wasn’t.
Moreover, Tether was investigated for bank fraud by the US DOJ, although it should also be noted the fraud part always had to do with bypassing the Bitcoin related bans some banks had enforced as their policy.
The Promise For An Audit
So far, Tether promotes a self-proclaimed state of transparency, although, for most critics, it seems it is just stalling with announcements and never produces what it declares.
Transparency in companies emerges from yearly audits by established independent auditing firms like E&Y, PwC, Delloite, and KPMG.
Tether is not a decentralized network but a centralized financial service established on trust.
Tether didn’t change anything by proclaiming transparency and demanding trust, considering it was fined last year for breaching this trust (lying about its reserves).
There are at least ten top auditing firms in the US with multinational branches that could serve Tether as an auditor and provide the required independent transparency reports everyone demands.
However, probably, none of the top firms will ever audit Tether, as this could mean the immediate downfall and collapse of the stablecoin.
We shouldn’t expect Tether to proceed with an audit.
I think its one of the top 12, so not that bad,. The big four are a bit more cautious about providing a full audit when the rules are not clear.
Paolo Ardoino (Tether’s CTO)
At the current size ($66 Billion), transparency includes caution as a digital industry of one trillion dollars is at stake.
The issue is that most auditors would not want to deal with Tether, no matter if they are top or bottom twelve.
The stakes of declaring Tether mismanaged and misrepresented would require multiple leaps of faith by an auditor to sign (non-condemning) financial statements.
Does Tether Help The Less Fortunate?
Somehow, after eight years of its existence, Tether tries to present itself as an organization that cares for an unidentified part of the less fortunate.
There are plenty of less fortunate out there, but Tether hasn’t helped anyone so far except the USDT fanboys commentators. These are the commentators that will soon fill this article with comments in support of USDT.
Hired internet trolls, though, are not an audience or a fanbase. They have hired trolls working for Tether and getting paid to comment on social media posts.
Such a response is unethical and reminds us of how some Ponzi schemes operate with ridiculous statements and promises.
Tether Can’t Go Public. It’s not about Tether deciding or wanting to go public.
Maybe it would be better for Tether to stop undermining the intelligence of everyone.
Tether doesn’t even have a proper audit for seven years. It is an absolute mess as an organization, and nobody would ever take it seriously in an IPO.
As previously explained Tether is reliant on the banking system and currently at the hands of the SEC and the US Department of Justice:
Tether is different from decentralized networks. It is not a network but a token operating on top of other networks (Ethereum, Tron, Polygon).
Its smart contract gives absolute control of the funds to Tether’s CTO (Paolo Ardoino). Unlike permissionless networks, Tether (USDT) is controlled by a small team and administered centrally.
Tether can freeze tokens at any address.
Centralization is perhaps the reason it still presents a use case for government agencies, although it will also mark the downfall of Tether.
Tether’s future depends on the decisions of state agencies and the US Department of Justice since considering its outlook as a business.
Bigger Than Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi
Source: Twitter
Tether reached a staggering $82 billion in total market cap in 2022.
Social media users, writers, and video content creators have all analyzed Tether since 2020 and concluded it represents a ticking time bomb for what is perceived as the cryptocurrency market (exchanges, trades, unrealistic valuations, and severely suppressed competitors to BTC).
Nobody trusts Tether yet it has been fully integrated into cryptocurrency exchanges either CEX (centralized exchanges) or DEXs (decentralized exchanges).
The fact of the matter is that trust was supposed to be eliminated by Bitcoin, yet these private entities such as Tether, Blockstream, Celsius, and Bitfinex, undermine the permissionless nature of blockchains and manipulate the public opinion to gain more control of the industry.
Currently, Tether sits at a $66 Billion capitalization, implying it holds reserves backing each USDT.
Source: Coinmarketcap
Tether’s market cap dropped as during the last two months Tether announced massive redemptions worth $15Billion right after the Celsius collapse.
In Conclusion
Every investor in crypto is exposed to the fallout of a possible Tether implosion.
Are governments willing to sacrifice tax-payer money to sustain a (possibly) insolvent stablecoin fund that lacks the reserves to pay back creditors?
There are no bailouts for crypto companies. Celsius was already ousted from the US months before it collapsed.
Recently Tether minted another billion USDT.
And somehow, right after the last mint, prices recovered by 20% for most cryptocurrencies. The crypto market is placing on Tether (USDT) so much trust that probably nothing will be spared when things go south.
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Originally published at Medium
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I wrote about their court case back in 2020 if I remember right. They said they will prove everyone that all is good with USDT... they never did!