On Saturday, CoinDesk, the crypto news portal, revealed information about some Tether banking relationships.
After a lengthy legal battle, crypto news portal CoinDesk has accessed internal documents related to Tether’s financial relationships. In a post, the portal published the relationship with some of the banking partners, as well as part of the endorsements of the USDT stablecoin. It is worth mentioning that much of the information is outdated.
In any case, the issuing company of the largest stablecoin in market capitalization did not take the news well. In a statement, the company warned about possible mishandling of sensitive information.
The document was accessed by the news portal through the Freedom of Information Law. The USDT broadcaster refused to provide them directly to the outlet, alleging that they contained sensitive information that could harm the company, its relationships, and its users.
Tether and CoinDesk Don’t Seem Like Good Friends
Internal documents with confidential company information held by CoinDesk are a matter of concern for Tether. Although the news outlet claims that it is studying the documents in order not to publish sensitive information, Tether does not seem convinced.
In fact, the company suggests that the recent demarcation of the USDT from the USD last Thursday could have been caused by leaks of the ceded documents. “We find it suspicious that today’s attack on USDT via DeFi and centralized exchanges occurred on the day the materials were delivered to CoinDesk. That synchronism raises questions,” the statement said.
The company claims to be aware that it “cannot count on fair coverage from CoinDesk.” It further points out that this news portal “often misrepresented Tether’s position in the market in favor of its main competitor.”
The company urges the media outlet to “put aside prejudice” against it. Consequently, that they do not publicly share information that has to do with clients, on the grounds that this could put people in the community in physical and digital danger.
The Dispute between the Media and the Company
So far, there has been no possibility to verify Tether’s accusations or CoinDesk’s intentions regarding that company or its rivals. The news portal stated its intention to make Tether endorsements public. With this, the doubts that were spread about the alleged unbacked issuance of USDT could be resolved.
On this last matter, the company reached an agreement in 2021 with the New York Attorney General’s Office to provide this information to the authorities.
Until then there was no news and Tether assures that it complied with all the obligations before the New York prosecutor. “Tether fully complied with that obligation, and there has been no suggestion that the disclosures were incomplete or that the reserves were ever inadequate,” they point out.
For CoinDesk, this was not enough and it requested the documents. Back then, the issuer of the stablecoin refused to provide them. The outlet’s response was to take them by force of law, specifically that of Freedom of Information.
The law favored CoinDesk and gave them access to Tether documents on its partners, endorsements, and status.
Some Information is Already Irrelevant
Some of the information about Tether reserves published by CoinDesk is currently irrelevant, that of the stablecoin backing, which was largely based on trade letters.
Recently, the company behind USDT reported that trade bill endorsements have been reduced to zero. Beyond all that, the company is concerned about CoinDesk’s relationship with its main competitor in the market.
If justified, Tether’s suspicions, in the worst-case scenario, could result in serious damage to the company. Otherwise, Tether’s fears may end up being unfounded.
By Audy Castaneda
