In a recent podcast interview, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer by market share, is next on the US government's target list. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino refuted Garlinghouse's comments and accused him of spreading fear.
Is Tether next in line?
CEO of Ripple join Quantum founder Chris Vasquez on his Global podcast on May 10. During the interview, he discussed his outlook on the future of cryptocurrencies and his thoughts on the US government's crackdown on the industry.
New episode with Brad Garlinghouse @bgarlinghouseCEO of @ripple alive!
We cover:
– Brad's wild journey climbing the Ripple domain
– Fighting lawsuits with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the importance of risk and courage
– Invaluable CEO lessons on building culture, hiring A+ players and lasting teams
-… pic.twitter.com/VQqrH4CfaX—Chris Vasquez (@imchrisvasquez) May 10, 2024
Regarding unforeseen circumstances, Garlinghouse believes that the cryptocurrency market has shown remarkable resilience despite adversity. The CEO used the downfall of FTX and the massive regulatory scrutiny Binance has faced over the past two years to support his point.
Two years ago, FTX and Binance were two of the most influential companies in the industry. Likewise, its founders and CEOs, Sam Bankman Fried and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, were major players in the cryptocurrency space, Garlinghouse explained.
SBF has since been sentenced to 20 years in prison, while CZ resigned from his position as CEO of Binance and was recently sentenced to four months in prison. For the Ripple CEO, these events were impossible to predict, adding that “it's hard to know black swans” because unpredictability is part of the nature of the event.
Despite this, he considers that what society and the industry has endured over the years shows a silver lining, as “the tremendous resilience of this industry and market (…) should give us tremendous optimism about what is to come.”
Garlinghouse believes there will be another black swan. He also stated that it would be “interesting to watch”, although he wasn't sure what that could be.
For him, it is clear that “the US government is going after Tether.” Finally, he added that the campaign against the company could have a significant impact because of its “important part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.”
Tether CEO responds
On Monday, Paolo took the Ardoino X to respond to the comments. The CEO described Garlinghouse as an “uninformed CEO” and suggested that he was spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about USDT.
Arduino appears to have taken the comments as an attack from someone who “leads a company under investigation by the SEC that launches a competitive stablecoin.” As a result, he decided to update the community on the health of the Tether ecosystem.
A uniformed CEO, leading a company under investigation by the SEC, and launching a competitive stablecoin (cui prodest), has been reported to be spreading fear about USDt.
Let me give you an update on the health of the Tether USDt ecosystem.
USDt is the most widely used stablecoin in the world, with…
— Paolo Ardoino 🍐 (@paoloardoino) May 13, 2024
The CEO highlighted USDT's position as “the world's most widely used stablecoin, with hundreds of millions of users primarily in emerging markets and developing countries.” Furthermore, he added that most mainstream media reporters refuse to report data on Tether's global compliance work.
Ardoino's post listed the various factors that affect Tether compliance. This included Tether's cooperation with 124 law enforcement agencies in over 40 countries, its respect of OFAC/SDN lists, and its blocking of over $1.3 billion related to fraud, hacking, money laundering, and terrorist financing.
For the CEO, refusing to share Tether statistics sets up a “sensationalist” narrative against the use of stablecoins and cryptocurrencies around the world, likely protecting the financial institution’s old guard.
Garlinghouse He responded To the post, explaining his intentions behind the comments. He clarified that he was not attacking the issuer of the stablecoin. Instead, he noted that the US government “has clearly indicated that it wants more control over issuers of US dollar-backed stablecoins.”
Thus, Tether's status as the largest player in the sector made it “first in line” for the regulatory push.
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
