Tether CTO Denies Exposure to Collapsed Signature Bank
A top executive at the company that makes the stablecoin Tether (USDT) is talking about recent reports that say the company had ties to the bank that went bankrupt, Signature Bank.
Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer of Tether, tells his 202,000 Twitter followers that the company had no direct or indirect ties to Signature Bank, even though a recent article by Bloomberg said that Tether used Signature Bank to find a way into the US financial system.
“As I stated on 12th of March 2023, Tether didn’t have any direct or indirect exposure to Signature. Good risk management where everyone failed…
I stand by my point about exposure. TradFi [traditional finance] guys annoyed Tether doesn’t blindly trust banks…”
Sources say that the stablecoin issuer in Hong Kong would tell its customers to buy USDT by sending US dollars to its partner in the Bahamas through Signature’s payment platform.
The deal was not clear when it was made, but it was still in place when Signature Bank failed last month and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took control (FDIC).
Alma Angotti, a former high-ranking member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), told Bloomberg that if Signature Bank knew about and approved the deal, it could mean that the bank was willing to take risks.
“They may well have known and decided this is less risky than opening up an account for Tether directly.”
The report says that in 2018, executives from Tether tried to open accounts with Signature Bank but were turned down.
