Ripple CEO Claims US Government Is Obviously Going After USDT; Tether’s Ardoino Claps Back

Paolo Ardoino has slammed Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse after the latter recently shared concerns over the United States government’s scrutiny of leading stablecoin issuer Tether.

Garlinghouse said on a May 10 episode of the World Class podcast that it’s “clear” to him that the US is “going after” Tether, which could trigger another catastrophic crypto Black swan event reminiscent of the FTX implosion, due to the sheer size of the company. Data from CoinGecko shows that the market capitalization of the USDT stablecoin currently stands at a staggering $110.8 billion, making it the third-biggest cryptocurrency.

“I view Tether as a very important part of the ecosystem,” the Ripple CEO posited, adding that he doesn’t know how to forecast what implications potential U.S. enforcement action against Tether would have on the crypto industry.

Tether CEO Takes Brutal Swipe At Garlinghouse For Spreading Fear About USDT 

In a lengthy post on the X platform, Ardoino, appointed Tether’s CEO last October, dismissed Garlinghouse as an “uninformed CEO”, asserting that he is spreading “fear about USDT.” He suggested that Garlinghouse’s remarks were hypocritical, given he is leading a crypto firm currently under investigation by the U.S. SEC.

Ripple and the SEC have been battling it out in court since late 2020 after the agency sued the fintech company for allegedly selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP. But last year, Ripple notched a partial court victory against the SEC when a judge found that programmatic sales of XRP to retail investors did not constitute securities. However, Wall Street’s top regulator is now seeking a $2 billion fine from Ripple for violating federal securities laws with its institutional sales. 

Additionally, Ardoino defended the safety of Tether’s ecosystem, pointing to its partnership with blockchain sleuth Chainalysis and law enforcement agencies globally. According to Ardoino, Tether has blocked roughly $1.3 billion worth of assets linked to scams, hacks, and money laundering since its inception. Of the $1.3 billion in blocked assets, Tether blocked over $639 million by collaborating with U.S. law enforcement.

“The real facts show how Tether USDT, leveraging the transparency of the blockchain technology and working with global law enforcement is able to comply with requirements,” he postulated.

Ardoino also noted that Ripple is planning to introduce its own dollar-backed stablecoin in 2024 and aims to compete with Tether USDT and Circle’s USDC for a slice of the market share in the coming years. As ZyCrypto reported previously, the SEC already asserted in a recent court filing that Ripple’s proposed stablecoin, which has yet to be given a name, is an “unregistered crypto asset”.

XRP is trading for $0.5064 at press time, a measly 0.6% increase over the last 24 hours.