Airdrop Army

Things are heating up for Tether, folks. U.S. prosecutors and the Treasury are throwing some heavyweight accusations their way, and it ain’t pretty. Word is, Tether’s been under the microscope for maybe doing business with some pretty grim circles—terrorists, shady Russian figures, and even a few infamous hacker clans, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office wants to know if Tether’s been letting certain “off-limits” actors move money under Uncle Sam’s nose, and the Treasury might even hit ‘em with sanctions. If they do, Americans could find themselves blocked from touching anything USDT-related.

CEO Ardoino Claps Back, Calls It “Old Noise”

Naturally, Tether’s big boss Paolo Ardoino isn’t staying silent. He fired back on X, saying WSJ was just recycling rumors. “As we told WSJ there is no indication that Tether is under investigation,” Ardoino wrote, making it sound like WSJ was blowing smoke for clicks. And Tether’s official statement kept that tone, calling the report “pure rank speculation.” They doubled down, saying, “Tether confirming that it has no knowledge of any such investigations into the company.” They also flexed their “well-documented” chats with law enforcement about bad actors who misuse crypto.

But if you’ve been in the stablecoin scene, you know this isn’t Tether’s first tango with regulators. Back in the day, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission slapped Tether with claims that they’d been exaggerating their dollar-backup game. The CFTC even said Tether made some “untrue or misleading statements” about how much cold, hard cash was actually propping up their coin.

Congress Gets In on the Act

Even the lawmakers in D.C. are stirring the pot, pressuring the DOJ to put Tether under a serious microscope. Their take? They think Tether’s got its hands dirty, and they want answers. For now, Tether’s all about waving the compliance flag, but it’s looking like the feds are on a hunt for the truth behind those slick stablecoin promises.