Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, has confirmed the financial integrity of Tether Holdings.
Lutnick, whose firm acts as Tether’s custodian, has verified that Tether’s declared assets align with their financial statements. As of June, Tether reported a substantial asset base of approximately $86 billion, a figure intended to support the $83 billion circulation of its USDT stablecoin.
Cantor Fitzgerald plays a significant role in managing many of these assets for Tether. This confirmation is pivotal given the longstanding skepticism around Tether’s claim that dollars fully back its stablecoin on a one-to-one basis.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Lutnick asserted that Tether has the money they say they have. He emphasized that he and his firm have extensively reviewed Tether’s financials, dispelling the persistent doubts about whether Tether possessed the funds it claimed.
Tether’s USDT is the largest stablecoin with a circulation of nearly $95 billion. In 2021, Tether resolved an issue with a U.S. regulatory body, incurring a penalty exceeding $40 million over accusations of misleading statements regarding its financial reserves. Following this, Tether began releasing attestations from a third-party accounting firm, offering periodic insights into its reserves, though not conducting a full audit.
Recently, a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime flagged USDT as a frequently chosen instrument for money laundering and other illicit transactions. Tether, in response, reaffirmed its commitment to curbing the misuse of cryptocurrencies for criminal activities. The company highlighted the traceability of transactions on blockchain technology, arguing that this makes their tokens an unlikely choice for illegal purposes.
In recent months, Tether has also shown commitment to helping the U.S. regulators identify and seize the crypto assets related to criminal activities. Last November, the stablecoin issuer froze $225m USDT tied to a trafficking syndicate that the DOJ was investigating.