Fresh
in
from
the
World
Economic
Forum,
in
Davos,
Switzerland:
Howard
Lutnick,
chairman
and
CEO
of
Cantor
Fitzgerald,
has
reiterated
claims
that
Tether
has
the
money
the
stablecoin
issuer
claims
to
have.
Cantor
has
been
a
Tether
custodian
since
late
2021,
and
as
such
has
been
able
to
examine
portions
of
the
stablecoin
issuer’s
balance
sheet,
Lutnick
said.
It’s
unclear
how
much
or
what
percentage
of
Tether’s
funds
Cantor
manages.
In
an
interview
with
Bloomberg
TV,
Lutnck
said
“I
manage
many,
many
of
their
assets.”
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“From
what
we’ve
seen,
and
we
did
a
lot
of
work,
they
have
the
money,”
he
added.
Lutnick
referenced
the
conspiracies
that
have
long
plagued
the
world’s
first
and
largest
stablecoin
issuer,
namely,
that
its
USDT
stablecoin
is
backed
by
air.
“There
has
always
been
a
lot
of
talk,
‘Do
they
have
it
or
not?’
So
I’m
here
with
you
guys
saying
we’ve
seen
it,
and
they
have
it,”
Lutnck
said.
Over
and
above
the
fact
that
Cantor
Fitzgerald,
a
storied
financial
firm
founded
in
1945,
is
tying
its
reputation
to
Tether
and
inviting
controversy,
Lutnck’s
comments
are
significant
because
he
is
perhaps
the
only
person
outside
of
crypto
with
a
reputation
to
lose
willing
to
speak
out
in
favor
of
the
offshore
stablecoin
king.
His
remarks
came
days
after
a
UN
report
singled
out
USDT
as
the
preferred
vehicle
for
money
laundering
in
Southeast
Asia.
Tether
–
whose
market
cap
is
four
times
as
much
as
its
next
largest
competitor,
USDC
–
has
denied
those
allegations,
noting
“the
traceability
of
Tether
tokens
and
the
proven
record
Tether
has
of
collaborating
with
law
enforcement,”
in
its
statement.
Of
course,
this
is
not
the
first
time
Lutnick
has
backed
up
Tether.
And
there
is
certainly
a
financial
incentive
for
Lutnck
to
try
to
dispel
the
rumors
around
its
client
(Lutnik
is
the
majority
owner
of
Cantor).
The
Block,
citing
an
unnamed
source,
reported
“the
vast
vast
majority”
of
Tether’s
reserves.
That
is
a
lot
of
coin.
USDT,
which
is
growing
at
an
unmatched
rate
compared
to
rival
stablecoins,
has
a
market
cap
above
$90
billion.
If
there
is
a
dollar
or
dollar
equivalent
held
in
reserve
backing
the
$99.5
billion+
of
USDT
in
circulation,
that
means
Cantor
has
a
lot
of
assets
to
potentially
use
to
earn
revenue.
This
isn’t
necessarily
to
discount
what
Lutnick
said,
but
it
is
relevant.
I
mean,
Lutnick
pledging
that
the
assets
exist
isn’t
exactly
the
“concrete
evidence
of
Tether’s
financial
strength”
that
Tether
CEO
Paolo
Ardoino
wants
it
to
be.
So
what
would
“affirm
the
robustness
of
Tether’s
reserves,”
as
Ardoino
put
it?
Well,
an
actual
audit.
The
quarterly
attestations
Tether
provides
(which
were
first
mandated
by
the
New
York
Attorney
General,
after
the
company
was
found
to
have
lied
about
its
reserves,
and
are
now
offered
proactively
by
Tether)
offer
only
a
glimpse
into
the
the
systemically-important
(or
“Too
Big
To
Fail”)
stablecoin.
But
an
attestation
doesn’t
conclusively
prove
that
the
assets
are
always
where
they
are
supposed
to
be.
Tether
has
been
claiming
it
will
supply
an
actual
audit
for
years.
When
I
spoke
to
Ardoino
for
CoinDesk’s
Most
Influential
series
last
November,
he
was
cagey
about
saying
anything
specific
about
this.
To
be
fair,
auditing
firms
have
been
remiss
to
get
involved
in
the
crypto
industry,
or
take
the
risk
of
auditing
a
firm
like
Tether.
So
until
that
happens,
and
a
legitimate
auditor
bites
the
bullet,
it’ll
be
a
“he
says,
she
says”
situation.
That
said,
at
this
point,
it
is
absolutely
time
for
the
so-called
Tether
Truthers
to
give
up
the
game.
For
years,
skeptics
have
been
able
to
get
away
with
saying
just
about
anything
they
want
about
Tether,
wantonly
connecting
dots
and
raising
questions
out
of
nowhere.
For
instance,
it
was
once
a
popular
trope
that
Tether
was
responsible
for
driving
up
the
price
of
bitcoin
(BTC),
by
inflating
the
market
with
counterfeit
dollars.
See
also:
Tether
May
Be
in
U.S.
Treasury
Sights
It
is
conclusively
true
that
Tether
has
lied
about
the
nature
of
its
reserves.
The
company
also
had
a
shady
backroom
deal
with
sister
company
Bitfinex,
after
the
popular
exchange
was
hacked.
Its
executives
have
been
evasive,
and
there’s
reason
enough
to
distrust
their
statements.
However,
just
because
someone
lied
doesn’t
mean
they’re
always
lying.
It’s
perfectly
reasonable
for
a
company
in
as
lucrative
a
business
as
Tether
to
eventually
clean
up
its
act.
And
everyday
that
USDT
continues
to
trade,
with
every
new
blockchain
it
expands
onto
and
with
every
new
corporate
backer
like
Cantor
it
gets,
is
another
reason
for
it
to
mature.
