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The Coin That Could Wreck Crypto
As cryptocurrencies have plunged, attention has focused on a potential point of vulnerability: the market’s reliance on a so-called stablecoin called Tether.
June 17, 2022
SAN FRANCISCO — Cryptocurrency prices are plummeting. A so-called stablecoin lost all its value in a matter of days. A newfangled crypto bank halted withdrawals. And investors have been plunged into financial ruin.Now the crypto industry is grappling with an even grimmer prospect: The worst may be yet to come.
Concern is mounting over another potential vulnerability in the crypto market: Tether, a company whose namesake currency is a linchpin of crypto trading worldwide. Long one of the most scrutinized companies in the industry, Tether is facing heightened pressure from regulators, investors, economists and growing legions of skeptics, who argue it could be another domino to fall in an even bigger crash.
“Tether is really the lifeblood of the crypto ecosystem,” said Hilary Allen, a finance expert at American University. “If it imploded, then the entire facade falls down.”
Tether is the dominant issuer of stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether, whose monetary value can fluctuate widely, stablecoins are typically designed to maintain a constant price of $1 and are backed by large reserves of funds or other financial engineering. That consistency allows crypto traders to conduct safe, predictable transactions without relying on banks or other financial gatekeepers.
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Even by crypto’s often-surreal standards, Tether has a peculiar history. The company was founded in 2014 by Brock Pierce, a cryptocurrency evangelist who, as a child actor, starred in the “Mighty Ducks” movies. He and his partner, Reeve Collins, later handed control of the firm to a former plastic surgeon named Giancarlo Devasini, who has stored some of Tether’s assets in a bank in the Bahamas run by one of the creators of the “Inspector Gadget” cartoon.
Tether has grown rapidly. Last year, it issued roughly 50 billion stablecoins, more than tripling the worldwide supply. “If we have to redeem till the last cent, we can do it,” Mr. Ardoino said in the interview.
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Last October, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission found that over a 26-month “sample period” between 2016 and 2018, Tether had held sufficient reserves in its accounts only a quarter of the time. The company paid a $41 million fine to the commission.
Since the New York settlement, Tether has issued periodic statements disclosing the composition of its reserves. But its announcements have done little to quash skepticism.
Last month, Tether revealed that about a quarter of its reserves, or $20 billion, consisted of commercial paper, down $4 billion from February. At the same time, it increased its exposure to money market funds, which may invest in commercial paper, to about $7 billion from $3 billion. Tether also revealed that $5 billion of its reserves were tied up in “other investments,” including digital currencies. Critics argued that the report was essentially a wash, with the project still lacking the kind of stability that many investors expect.
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The growth of stablecoins presents “the same kind of risks that we have known for centuries in connection with bank runs,” she said.
Mr. Ardoino said Tether was eager to work with regulators to devise a global framework governing disclosures that stablecoin issuers must make about their reserves. But Tether has resisted more aggressive proposals, which would subject it to regulatory requirements like those of traditional banks.
“Everyone’s freaking out — like, ‘I lost my life savings,’” said Mr. Collins, who founded Tether with Mr. Pierce and now runs a crypto venture called BLOCKv. “That’s a tragedy, but it’s just as much of a tragedy when someone says, ‘I went to a casino and lost my life savings.’ But that doesn’t mean let’s regulate casinos out of existence.”
The Coin That Could Wreck Crypto https://nyti.ms/3xW3Wch