It is an announcement that questions. Tom Wanan analyst at 21.co, said he discovered an address that potentially belongs to Tether and which currently contains approximately 55,022 bitcoinsrepresenting a value of approximately $1.6 billion. What makes the company issuing the US dollar-backed stablecoin the world’s eleventh bitcoin fortune. Thetera true pillar of the crypto ecosystem, is she taking too many risks by owning such holdings of a currency exposed to price volatility? Response elements.
Theter, an often denounced opacity
For now, Theter has declined to comment on Tom Wan’s findings. As a reminder, the company has revealed for the first time the existence of its bitcoin holdings in the first quarter this year, when she said its intention to invest up to 15% of its profits in this crypto. The reason? She wishes diversify its fund reserves towards more cryptos to depend less on debt bonds issued by the US government. Theter said at the time that it “expects current and future BTC holdings will never exceed the shareholders’ capital buffer”. Assets that are only intended to strengthen and diversify the reserves.
The problem is that the discovery by an analyst of sums much larger than what one could imagine, brings back to the carpet the criticisms addressed to the issuing company of the oldest stablecoin. Indeed, Tether has frequently been vilified for the opacity of its accounts. He has often been urged to embrace full transparency in accounting, something the company has not fully achieved.
So many bitcoins in the boxes of Theter, should we be worried?
In addition, this announcement is enough to make observers of the crypto-currency ecosystem shiver. Because Tether, whose stock symbol is USDT, is a stablecoin issued on different blockchains and whose value is backed by that of the US dollar. This makes it possible to escape the excessive volatility of the crypto market. As Tom Wan points out, bitcoin is a high beta asset, which could bring a bigger return for Tether but could also prove to be a problem on the downside.
However, he relativizes this risk by explaining that the sum discovered corresponds more or less to the surpluses recorded by the company since its bitcoin investment announcement. In other words, Theter would only have implemented his plan to the letter.
Mikolaj Zakrzowskia research analyst at CryptoQuant, validated this analysis, saying that the expansion of Tether’s bitcoin holdings does not present a major problem. Indeed, Tether also controls a significant amount US treasury bills and other dollar-denominated assets.
To conclude, we can also note that the evolution of the price of BTC indicates that this crypto is increasingly seen by investors as a safe haven currency, like the old fiduciary currencies like the dollar. Theter therefore does not seem to be in danger.
Sources: Theblock, Insidebitcoins, Newsbtc