Tether, one of the most popular stablecoin issuers, is preparing for a full audit with a top 12 firm to provide additional transparency on its USDT reserves. Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino made this statement in one of the recent interviews with Euromoney.
Last month proved extremely unstable for stablecoins due to the collapse of the Terra and UST. Tether was struck lightly due to the cascading effect and dropped to 95 cents on some exchanges. Ardoino illustrated the recent event by comparing it to the Washington Mutual bank run of 2008.
“We were put under a stress test that not even banks can succeed, and we passed with flying colors.We showed that in the worst case scenario, when there was Terra crumbling, the entire crypto market crumbling, we got a tonne of request of withdrawals and we honored them within minutes.”
Paolo Ardoino
Ardoino claims that Tether’s peg was practically not broken
Ardoino claims that Tether was practically never depegged as Tether never refused redemption requests, and all redemptions were done at $1.
“Tether redeemed 10% of its assets in 48 hours and without the blink of an eye, we could have done much more than that. In total, in ten days it was around $11 billion or 13% of our assets and still no problems.”
Paolo Ardoino
Ardoino states that digital assets account for only a tiny part of Tether’s reserves. Amidst all the market chaos, rumors were circulating about Tether. Tether’s commercial paper portfolio is allegedly 85% backed by Chinese/Asian papers and is being traded at a 30% discount, according to rumors circulating on social media recently.
The stablecoin issuer, on the other hand, criticized the allegations in an official statement issued on Wednesday, claiming that they were fake. Ardoino says that Tether has cut its CP holdings from $40 billion to $15 billion over the last eight months.
Ardoino stated that Tether is working closely with an accounting firm called MHA for a full audit that Ardoino claims that other stablecoins lack.
“I think it’s one of the top 12, so not that bad. The big four are a bit more cautious about providing a full audit when the rules are not clear.”
Paolo Ardoino
Ardoino said to Euromoney that Terra’s collapse would eventually lay down a regulatory structure for stablecoins.