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“Every single business or political meeting that they have culminates with this intent,” Ardoino said on X.
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Tether’s competitors are working to push the world’s largest stablecoin issuer out of the crypto market, according to the company’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino.
Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, USDt (USDT), has a market capitalization of more than $142 billion — over twice as large as Circle’s USD Coin’s (USDC) $56 billion, according to Cointelegraph data.
However, the stablecoin issuer is facing mounting pressure from both competing firms and politicians, Ardoino said in a Feb. 25 X post.
“While our competitors business model should be to build a better product and even bigger distribution network, their real intent is ‘Kill Tether.’ Every single business or political meeting that they have culminates with this intent.”
“I’ll leave it to you to define a competitor trying to use lawfare to kill an opponent, instead of focusing on better products,” Ardoino added.
Tether will continue focusing on its mission to promote global financial inclusion, particularly in underdeveloped economies, Ardoino said, noting that USDT is used by more than 400 million people and gains 35 million new wallets each quarter.
Ardoino’s comments follow Tether’s exclusion from the list of 10 firms approved to issue stablecoins under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework.
Source: Paolo Ardoino
According to Patrick Hansen, senior director of EU strategy and policy at Circle, the list includes Banking Circle, stablecoin issuer Circle, Crypto.Com, Fiat Republic, Membrane Finance, Quantoz Payments, Schuman Financial, Societe Generale, StabIR and Stable Mint.
The Circle executive added that these 10 service providers have issued 10 euro-pegged stablecoins and five US dollar-pegged stablecoins, Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 19.
Related: Crypto founders share debanking stories during ‘Operation Chokepoint 2.0’
Tether faces growing challenges under Europe’s MiCA framework
Tether has faced growing regulatory challenges in Europe since MiCA regulations went into effect at the end of 2024.
To comply with Europe’s MiCA regulation, crypto exchange Kraken said it will delist five stablecoins, including Tether’s USDT, starting March 31.
“These changes ultimately ensure Kraken remains compliant and is able to provide its exceptional trading experience to European clients for the long term,” the company stated in an announcement.
Related: FDIC chair, ‘architect of Operation Chokepoint 2.0’ Martin Gruenberg to resign Jan. 19
Crypto.com, another major exchange, confirmed it would also delist USDT and nine other stablecoins starting Jan. 31, 2025.
The exchange said users will have until the end of the first quarter of 2025 to convert affected tokens to MiCA-compliant assets. Any remaining holdings will be automatically converted to a compliant stablecoin or asset of corresponding market value.
MiCA may introduce “systemic risks” risks for stablecoin issuers, considering that banks can loan up to 90% of their reserves, Ardoino told Cointelegraph during an interview at Plan B Lugano in Switzerland:
“If you have 10 billion euros under management, you have to put 6 billion euros in cash deposits. That is 60% of 10 billion euros. We know that banks can lend out 90% of their balance sheet. So of the 6 billion euros, they lend out 5.4 billion euros to people […] 600 million euros will remain in the bank balance sheet.”
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News
