You can’t stop Tether FUD

by · September 2, 2022

In the crypto world, FUD stands for fear, uncertainty and doubt. It is often brought about on purpose to draw negative attention to a particular project or business. One of crypto’s most enduring legacies has been the constant FUD surrounding Tether, whose USDT stablecoin has a market cap of nearly $68 billion. Whether on purpose or not, The Wall Street Journal published a story this week claiming that Tether was on the brink of technical insolvency and that it wouldn’t take much to push the stablecoin issuer into financial peril. Of course, Tether didn’t take it lying down and immediately issued a response to what it deemed to be a “disinformation campaign” by the Journal.

Regardless of which side of the debate you are on, it is becoming clear that there is a strong media bias against Tether. In fact, the Journal published a story a few months ago claiming that several hedge funds were betting against stablecoins around the same time the crypto market as a whole plunged.

This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter dissects the Tether controversy and brings you the latest on the state of venture capital and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Tether responds to “disinformation” in the Wall Street Journal

In an article published on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal claimed that even a 0.3% decline in Tether’s assets could deem the stablecoin issuer “technically insolvent.” The Journal referred to Tether’s latest disclosure on its website, which showed that assets only slightly exceeded liabilities. Tether clapped back and accused the Journal of engaging in unnecessary FUD. “The article seeks to discredit the work that Tether has put into transparent and honest communication with the public,” Tether said. “Perhaps the WSJ has confused Tether with some of its competitors.” If you’re worried about Tether FUD, don’t sweat it. The stablecoin issuer has been under constant attack by the mainstream media since at least 2017.

“Everything is for sale:” Reddit founder, Galaxy and Genesis executives raise big money

Despite all the talk of crypto winter, venture capital continues to flood the blockchain industry. This week, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian announced that his venture firm Seven Seven Six is ​​seeking to raise $177.6 million to invest in various crypto and blockchain startups. “This is the best time to buy if you’re in the business very long. It’s on sale. Everything is on sale,” said Katelin Holloway, the founding partner of Seven Seven Six. If recent history is any indication, Seven Seven Six is ​​likely to succeed with reaching the investment goal Expect more big funding stories from the blockchain world.

Meta announces that Facebook and Instagram users can post NFTs from digital wallets

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta failed to launch its own stablecoin, but the social media giant is still embracing blockchain technology in other ways. Effective immediately, Facebook’s approximately 2.9 billion users will be able to share NFTs by connecting their digital wallets directly to the social media app. The announcement came less than a month after Meta enabled Instagram NFT integration in over 100 countries. It is not entirely clear how Meta will monetize its NFT integration. Investors are probably hoping that NFTs don’t burn a hole in Zuckerberg’s pocket like the company’s Metaverse division (yikes).

“Most crypto is still junk” and lacks scope – JPMorgan blockchain head

After beating Bitcoin (BTC) for years, JPMorgan has spun out a dedicated digital asset division – a clear sign that the big banks recognize the sector’s long-term value proposition. Umar Farooq, who heads JPMorgan’s digital asset division, recently told a panel that most crypto projects are “junk” and not worth pursuing as investments. “I mean, with the exception of, I would say, a few dozen tokens, everything else that has been mentioned is either noise or, frankly, is just going to go away,” he told the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Green Shots seminar. I think most investors would agree that most crypto projects do not have a future. The problem is agreeing on which projects outside of Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) are not garbage.

Don’t miss it! Crypto market dump – Is it over or the start of the next megacrash?

Crypto winter is starting to look like a crypto deep freeze as Bitcoin, Ether and altcoins plunged this week. Have we seen a definitive bottom in crypto prices, or is more pain on the way this fall? In this week’s market report, I sat down with fellow analysts Marcel Pechman and Benton Yaun to discuss where crypto prices could be headed next. You can watch the full replay below.

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