Stablecoin giant Tether has slammed Deutsche Bank over a newly released report suggesting that stablecoins — including its dollar-pegged token Tether (USDT) — could witness a “peso moment” that would wreak havoc on the crypto industry.
In a May 7 research report on stablecoins, Deutsche analysts cited the 2022 collapse of the Terraform Lab’s algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD (TUSD), which saw at least $40 billion wiped from the market in a few days, as cause for wider criticism of dollar-pegged stablecoin products.
From a study of 334 currency pegs from the last 223 years, analysts found that 49% of fixed currencies failed over the course of their median life span of approximately eight to 10 years.
The analysts concluded that most of the pegged assets in the crypto space would experience significant “turbulence” stemming from speculative sentiment and eventually suffer some kind of depegging event.
“While some may survive, most will likely fail, particularly due to the lack of transparency in stablecoin operations and vulnerability to speculative sentiment.”
Deutsche Ban analysts also noted Tether’s lack of transparency concerning its reserves and described the firm’s solvency status as “questionable.”
However, Tether lashed out at Deutsche Bank’s report, saying it “lacks clarity and substantial evidence” and relies on “vague assertions rather than rigorous analysis.”
In comments shared with Cointelegraph, a Tether spokesperson said that while the report attempts to forecast the decline of stablecoins, it failed to “provide concrete data to support its claims.”
“Moreover, its comparison to Terra, an algorithmic stablecoin, is misleading and irrelevant to the discussion on reserve-backed coins,” said Tether in response.
“Questioning the credibility of any financial institution, especially one with Deutsche Bank’s track record, seems ironic. Deutsche Bank’s history of fines and penalties raises doubts about its own standing to critique others in the industry.”
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Tether has been the subject of criticism over the transparency of its reserves.
However, the firm has released several financial attestations, which suggest the firm holds over $110 billion in fiat-denominated reserves — though some critics argue it’s not the same as a financial audit.
Audits are conducted to look at data, risks or compliance issues that may not have been known before the audit took place, whereas an attestation is a simpler tool used to take a snapshot of certain data.
In 2021, the New York Attorney General settled with Tether to pay an $18.5-million fine and barred it from practicing in the state for allegedly misrepresenting the degree to which its reserves were backed by fiat collateral.
Despite never releasing an official audit since the firm’s inception in 2014, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick said he believes Tether “has the money” on hand.
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