Just-In: Tether Defends USDT Reserves, Plans To Undergo Full Audit

Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino on Monday said Tether (USDT) has survived short selling and redemptions amid the crypto market crash. Moreover, Paolo Ardoino believes Tether has always been more transparent about its reserves. Tether reserves are validated quarterly by accounting firm MHA.

In fact, Tether is planning to undergo a full audit of its reserves. However, the Big Four accounting firms remain unavailable due to the lack of regulatory definitions around stablecoins.

Tether (USDT) Reserves To Undergo Full Audit, Says CTO

Tether had provided information about its reserves over the last two years, and it will provide more information if regulators demand, said Paolo Ardoino in an interview with Euromoney.

“We wish that regulators would provide clarity on what is owed to be disclosed. If we disclose a [hypothetical] 10, it’s unfair that other stablecoins disclose a five.”

Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino asserts that public disclosure of details about its reserves hampers relationships with partners and banks. Disclosing details about banks and counterparties is not a fair practice.

Currently, accounting company MHA provides quarterly attestations of reserves. In fact, a top 12 accounting firm has been hired to do a full audit of the reserves. However, some reports have shown that the firm is under investigation by the UK Financial Reporting Council.

Paolo Ardoino claims Tether (USDT) is mostly backed by fiat-denominated reserves, with only a small proportion in digital assets. Moreover, Tether has reduced its holdings of commercial papers. In fact, the company has never redeemed its dividend, so accrued interest keeps on adding to its reserves.

“Tether redeemed 10% of its assets in 48 hours and, we could have done much more than that. In total, in 10 days, it was around $11 billion or 13% of our assets and still no problems.”

Tether (USDT) Market Cap Falls Below $70 Billion

The rising redemptions amid depeg caused the USDT market cap to dwindle below 70 billion. According to CoinMarketCap, the current market value of the USDT is $67.84 billion.

Meanwhile, USDC stablecoin’s market cap continues to increase as it seems more stable than USDT, which has depegged during the latest two crypto market turmoil.