Tether - A word of caution over Tether stablecoin safetyIn our previous posts, we warned about de-pegging of the Tether stablecoin from the U.S. dollar. The precedent was set when Luna stablecoin fell 99%, spilling to other tokens and temporarily breaking the peg between the USDT and USD. With the recent crash in the cryptocurrency market, we remain very pessimistic about its outlook.
Illustration 1.01
The picture above shows the precedent that took place on 12th May 2022. The Tether token can be seen losing almost 6% of its value against the U.S. dollar.
Already back in July 2021, Jannet Yellen, the U.S. treasury secretary, summoned Jerome Powell and the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission to discuss Tether and the danger it poses. Then in October 2021, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed and settled legal cases against iFinex Inc. , BFXNA Inc. , and BFXWW Inc.
The actual text (only excerpts) from the CFTC website
1st excerpt
“The Tether order finds that since its launch in 2014, Tether has represented that the tether token is a stablecoin with its value pegged to fiat currency and 100% backed by corresponding fiat assets, including U.S. dollars and euros. However, the Tether order finds that from at least June 1, 2016 to February 25, 2019, Tether misrepresented to customers and the market that Tether maintained sufficient U.S. dollar reserves to back every USDT in circulation with the “equivalent amount of corresponding fiat currency” held by Tether and “safely deposited” in Tether’s bank accounts. “
2nd excerpt
In fact Tether reserves were not “fully-backed” the majority of the time. The order further finds that Tether failed to disclose that it included unsecured receivables and non-fiat assets in its reserves, and that Tether falsely represented that it would undergo routine, professional audits to demonstrate that it maintained “100% reserves at all times” even though Tether reserves were not audited.
3rd excerpt
“Tether held sufficient fiat reserves in its accounts to back USDT tether tokens in circulation for only 27.6% of the days in a 26-month sample time period from 2016 through 2018. “
We raise a word of caution as to the question of stablecoin safety - in this particular case of Tether .
Illustration 1.02
The picture shows another anomaly in the price of Tether, but this one started to occur yesterday.
Please feel free to express your ideas and thoughts in the comment section.
DISCLAIMER: This analysis is not intended to encourage any buying or selling of any particular securities. Furthermore, it should not be a basis for taking any trade action by an individual investor. Therefore, your own due diligence is highly advised before entering a trade.
