Indicates ‘working’ towards an audit

Towards the end of last week, Wall Street Journal published an article raising concerns with respect to Tether’s audit policy. The article quoted the former Head of Internet Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, John Reed Stark, who had said,

“Tether needs an audit that’s akin to a corporate colonoscopy, that tells investors everything about what’s in their reserves.”

Addressing the same issue in its latest blog post, the stablecoin issuer clarified that it intends to carry out audits. However, it went on to label the WSJ report to be a “series of unsubstantiated conclusions.” It added,

“The article seeks to discredit the work that Tether has put into transparent and honest communication to the public.”

Back in July, Tether had switched accountants—from a small Cayman Islands-based firm to BDO Italia—the Italian member of the global BDO network. The WSJ, however, referred to the reputable and independent Top 5 audit firm as a “Tether accounting firm.” In its retaliation, Tether told that the same was “erroneously written by the WSJ.”

It further asserted,

“BDO will continue to have unrestricted access to any relevant  information to perform their work and Tether will continue to share its attestations, despite continuous attempts by the media to disparage its reputation and that of top-ranking firms like BDO that are working with digital asset companies.” 

Read More: Tether Collabs with World’s 5th Largest Accounting Firm, BDO Italia

In the statement released, the stablecoin issuer also went on to clarify that Treasury Bills have been the “premier safe asset” for the past several decades. It also added, “to assume that our business is unprofitable is false,” and went on to quash other misstatements from the WSJ report.

The stablecoin issuer’s statement concluded by highlighting,

“Tether’s disclosures have been the most honest and transparent in the market – everyone knows that we have not had an audit and they know we are working towards one.”

Also Read: Tether Audit is “likely months” away: CTO Paolo Ardoino

Did WSJ’s allegations affect Tether’s transactions?

Likely not. Per data from Glassnode, the number of deposits to exchanges reached a new 3-year low on Wednesday. The same indicates that participants either have their Tether stashes zipped or have diverted their stablecoin HODLings towards other assets. So, in all, it can be inferred that market participants ain’t in their Tether dumping spree at the moment.