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Tether CEO Takes Shots at Ripple Chief, Addressing FUD Spread by Garlinghouse
The CEO of stablecoin issuer Tether has slammed Ripple Labs chief Brad Garlinghouse, accusing him of spreading fear about USDT. Ardoino published a long-form post on X (formerly Twitter), mocking Ripple’s regulatory troubles and then discussing Tether, USDT, and the company’s impact.
Ripple’s Garlinghouse Says Government Will Target Tether
In a recent interview, Garlinghouse said that Tether’s USDT is the next target of the US government, suggesting that Tether will bear the brunt of the government’s crackdown on stablecoins. According to Garlinghouse:
“The US Government is going after Tether. That is clear to me. I view Tether as a very important part of the ecosystem and I don’t know how to predict the impact it would have on the rest of the ecosystem.”
Garlinghouse’s comments may also have been related to recent allegations that terrorist groups and sanctioned countries use the stablecoin to sidestep financial restrictions imposed by the US. In January, a report published by the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime Unit noted that the USDT stablecoin had become the preferred channel for several illegal activities across Asia, including money laundering schemes.
Last month, US Treasury Deputy Secretary Adewale Adeyemi said Russia was using alternative payment tools like USDT to circumvent US-enforced economic sanctions. In a written testimony to the Senate Banking, House & Urban Affairs Committee, Adeyemi noted that Russia is using these methods to “finance its war machine” and suggested secondary sanctions on foreign crypto providers that facilitate illicit finance.
Tether’s Ardoino Responds to Garlinghouse
Ardoino began his response by calling Garlinghouse “uninformed” before providing an update on USDT.
https://twitter.com/paoloardoino/status/1789921257632207233
Suggesting that Garlinghouse may benefit from spreading fear about USDT because Ripple plans to launch a dollar-backed stablecoin, Ardoino highlighted positive effects of the Tether USDT ecosystem. He noted that USDT is the world’s most used stablecoin, used more by hundreds of millions of people in developing countries and emerging markets. This helps Tether cater to the unbanked communities in these places, with many daily using USDT as their primary accounts because the traditional banking system has abandoned them.
Ardoino then advertised the safety and stability of the Tether ecosystem. According to him, Tether and USDT have satisfied multiple essential requirements expected of widely adopted stablecoins. USDT also has top-tier custodians, highly liquid reserves, and price stability.
On compliance, the CEO highlights the company’s mostly voluntary collaborations with law enforcement to help fight crime and prevent illicit activity. The CEO said Tether has collaborated with 124 law enforcement agencies across 40+ different countries and has blocked over $1.3 billion in funds related to money laundering, scams, and hacks. He added that the company has also responded to 198 law enforcement requests (90 in the US) to block wallets in the last 12 months and 339 (158 in the US) in the last three years. Furthermore, Tether has helped the US block more than $639 million worth of USDT. This is possible via a highly trained team that uses several tools to monitor Tether’s internal core platform and secondary markets including blockchains and exchanges.
Tether CEO Takes Shots at Ripple Chief, Addressing FUD Spread by Garlinghouse
