Consumer Watchdog Calls Tether a 'Disaster for Consumers Waiting to Happen'

Consumer protection group Consumers' Research released a report criticizing the lack of transparency around stablecoin issuer Tether’s U.S. dollar reserves and calling it a “disaster for consumers waiting to happen.”

The report claims the main issue is Tether's lack of a full audit from a reputable accounting firm of the dollar reserves backing USDT, its 1:1 U.S. dollar stablecoin.

Tether did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.

Consumers' Research draws comparisons between this situation and the events leading to the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research.

“Tether has many of the same issues that FTX and Celsius had before their collapse—potentially costing consumers billions of dollars using deceptive and misleading marketing tactics that are inconsistent with the truth,” the watchdog wrote in its report.

Consumers’ Research also claims that Tether conducts business with questionable entities and has not prevented the use of USDT for evading international sanctions. To spread awareness, Consumers' Research sent an open letter to all U.S. state governors, launched radio advertisements, and created a website detailing their claims.

However, there have been some big names in the finance industry who’ve defended the USDT issuer.

In January, Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, which manages Tether's US securities portfolio, said during a Bloomberg interview that "from what we've seen [...] they have the money they say they have."

Tether itself says it’s taken steps to address transparency and combat illicit activities. In July, the company hired Philip Gradwell, former chief economist at Chainalysis, to produce USDT usage reports for U.S. regulators and investors.

Just last month, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced the firm had assisted over 145 law enforcement agencies in recovering $108.8 million in USDT connected to illegal activities since 2014. And Tether recently partnered with blockchain intelligence platform TRM Labs and Layer-1 network Tron (TRX) to create the "T3 Financial Crime Unit," aimed at identifying and freezing illicit USDT transactions on the Tron network.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.