The US authorities are ready to resume the prosecution of Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin.
The US Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Tether with the prospect of opening a criminal case, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources.
The company is suspected of bank fraud and providing false information in financial reports.
The US Department of Justice intends to analyze the activities that Tether conducted in the first years of its existence. In particular, he is interested in the possibility of hiding transactions related to cryptocurrency. The decision to open a case may be made later, after the Ministry of Justice has established the validity of the charges.
As Bloomberg notes, the current investigation suggests that the investigation could have switched attention to bank fraud from market manipulations that Tether was accused of in the past.
Tether called the Bloomberg article a "clickbait" based "on unnamed sources and statements from many years ago."
Tether has already become a person involved in the trial in 2019, when the company gave a loan to the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. In February, the crypto exchange Bitfinex and Tether settled a conflict with the New York State Prosecutor's Office (NYAG). As part of the settlement agreement, Bitfinex and Tether paid $18.5 million.
Recall that in June, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Eric Rosengren, called the USDT stablecoin a "new destroyer" of the short-term lending market.
On July 20, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for the creation of a regulatory framework for stablecoins. According to her, in the coming months, regulatory authorities plan to issue recommendations to eliminate regulatory gaps in relation to stablecoins.
On July 22, the head of the SEC, Gary Gensler, said that cryptocurrencies that are tied to the value of traditional financial assets fall under the securities legislation.
Tether is the permanent leader of the segment. According to The Block, the share of USDT in the total supply of stablecoins is 57.81%. According to Tether's quarterly report, as of March 31, 2021, cash and cash equivalents formed 76% of Tether Holdings Limited's reserves.