The CEO of Wall Street on the Tether Controversy: "They Have the Cash"

Concerns about whether Tether's $95 billion stablecoin genuinely possesses the assets it claims to be supporting USDT have plagued the cryptocurrency. According to Howard Lutnick of Cantor Fitzgerald, whose company oversees Tether's finances, it does.


In response to one of the most important questions in cryptocurrency over the years as its stablecoin, USDT, has grown into a giant, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick affirmed the legality of stablecoin issuer Tether on Tuesday. He stated, "They have it," in a Bloomberg TV interview. Coming from a well-known and powerful Wall Street person, that is substantial confirmation for Tether. One of the top 25 primary dealers for US Treasurys, Cantor Fitzgerald under Lutnick is one of Wall Street's most well-known bond trading companies and permits direct transaction with the Federal Reserve.
Because it supports USDT, the stablecoin that is still the most commonly used in the world with a market valuation of over $95 billion, the stablecoin issuer has been under intense scrutiny for a considerable amount of time. "I oversee numerous of their possessions," Lutnick mentioned cryptocurrency during the live-streamed conversation from Davos, Switzerland. "From what I've seen – and we did a lot of work – they have the money they say they have." Lutnick appeared to be referring to Tether's most recent attestation report, which said that as of September 30, the company had $86.4 billion in reserves against $83.2 billion in liabilities.
A significant portion of Tether's reserves were held in commercial paper for years, which alarmed some observers. But according to its most recent attestation report, there are no longer any holdings of commercial paper and USDT is mostly backed by US Treasuries, which are regarded as one of the safest assets in the world. The industry isn't entirely persuaded by Tether's asset quality just yet. These worries were recently reaffirmed by credit rating agency S&P Global's low rating for the stablecoin. S&P Global evaluates traits like "the quality of the asset backing the stablecoin" and "weaknesses in other areas, including regulation and supervision, governance, transparency, liquidity and redeemability, and track record".


Additionally, customers of USDT are still waiting on a formal audit, which would provide a far more accurate image of a business than an attestation. Lutnick has expressed in the past that he likes Tether. Treasury securities held by the stablecoin issuer are managed by Cantor Fitzgerald. When questioned about the approval and listing of more than a dozen spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a more hotly debated topic in the cryptocurrency world right now, Lutnick questioned the true worth of bitcoin and stablecoins for Americans, arguing that while they are appealing as speculative assets in this country, people in other countries—like Argentina, Venezuela, and Turkey—hold crypto for more meaningful purposes.
"This is a speculative asset for us but for countries like Argentina, Venezuela, Turkey, these crypto assets matter, stablecoins matter in those countries," he stated. "It's a way to hold on to the dollar."