Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CTO, opens up about attempts at a coordinated attack by traditional hedge funds trying to short USDT. Ardoino wrote about the details in a Twitter thread, stating that the attacks comprise a “new wave of FUD, troll armies, clowns.etc.”
The detailed thread follows a Wall Street Journal report that highlighted that traditional hedge funds are trying to short tether through one of the largest crypto brokerages, Genesi Global Trading.
Tether CTO affirms that USDT is 100% backed
Ardoino began the thread by highlighting the tools and methods used by traditional finance to short USDT. He stated that despite the efforts to collaborate with regulators and increase transparency, Tether and the team have been branded as the bad guys.
Paolo highlighted the accomplishments and the efforts that the team has made. He went on and asserted that Tether is 100% backed. He highlighted that Tether has never failed a redemption and has always redeemed USDT at $1.
Ardoino compared tether to banking institutions and stated that his team processed over 7 billion in redemptions, which is impossible for banks.
“Tether also reduced its commercial paper exposure from ~45B to ~8.4B and is set to phase it out in full in the coming months. All the expiring CP have been rolled into US Treasury bills, and we’ll keep going till CP exposure will be 0. Tether’s portfolio is stronger than ever.”
To highlight the robustness of its portfolio, Ardoino stated that it has processed 16 billion in redemptions in more than a month, which accounts for 19% of its total reserve.
Ardoino kept on stressing the robustness and stability of Tether throughout the thread and stated that USDT is the only stablecoin that is proven with fire under extreme pressure.
“And while the FUD was focusing on USDT, during the last 2 months of crypto devastation, it was discovered that many lenders and hedge funds considered the holy heroes of our industry were actually taking risks that Tether never touched even with a ten-foot pole.”