Thomas Daniels
Howard Lutnick, the chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, has verified the financial solidity of Tether Holdings. Lutnick’s company, which serves as the custodian for Tether, has affirmed the consistency of Tether’s financial reports with their declared assets. As per the latest data in June, Tether’s assets were reported to be around $86 billion, a substantial amount aimed to underpin the $83 billion in circulation of its USDT stablecoin.
Cantor Fitzgerald is instrumental in overseeing a significant portion of Tether’s assets. This validation is crucial, especially considering the long-standing doubts about Tether’s claim of having a one-to-one dollar backing for its stablecoin.
In a Bloomberg Television interview, Lutnick stated with confidence that Tether possesses the funds it claims to have. He stressed that his firm conducted a thorough review of Tether’s financial records, effectively addressing the lingering uncertainties about Tether’s actual financial holdings.
Tether’s USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin, boasts a circulation of nearly $95 billion. In 2021, Tether settled a dispute with a U.S. regulatory authority, incurring over $40 million in fines for allegedly misleading claims about its financial reserves. Subsequently, Tether began issuing attestations from an independent accounting firm to provide occasional updates on its reserves, though it stopped short of a complete audit.
A recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime identified USDT as a preferred tool for money laundering and other illegal transactions. In response, Tether reaffirmed its dedication to preventing the misuse of cryptocurrencies in criminal activities. The company emphasized the traceability of blockchain transactions, arguing that this feature makes their tokens an unlikely tool for illicit uses.
In the past few months, Tether has actively cooperated with U.S. regulatory bodies in identifying and confiscating crypto assets linked to criminal activities. In a notable instance last November, the stablecoin issuer froze $225 million in USDT connected to a trafficking group under investigation by the DOJ.
