Tether: We've onboarded FBI, Secret Service to our platform

[larry_vw_1955]

https://www.theblock.co/post/267973/tether-weve-onboarded-fbi-secret-service-to-our-platform

In the more recent letter, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, who recently took the helm of the company, emphasized Tether's recent decision to disable Tether's tokens in all wallets on the Office of Foreign Assets and Controls (OFAC) sanction list. Tether claims to have helped the Department of Justice, U.S. Secret Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) freeze 326 wallets controlling 435 million USDT so far, though its latest frozen wallets seemingly contain far fewer tokens than that sum.

imagine having the FBI and Secret Service needing to approve your bitcoin wallet. That's what the USA government wishes could happen. Looks like they are getting their way with tether...which is kind of concerning that the USA government will now effectively control tether.

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[btc78]

imagine having the FBI and Secret Service needing to approve your bitcoin wallet. That's what the USA government wishes could happen. Looks like they are getting their way with tether...which is kind of concerning that the USA government will now effectively control tether.

they say they did this for transparency but it seems like from now on the government can and will definitely have a look into different addresses containing usdt
will this affect their users? i feel like some would be ok with the idea of tether implementing a more secure system but on the other hand, the involvement of the government totally goes against the concept of crypto

[Publictalk792]

I understand you are worried about whats happening with Tether and its work with the US government. The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and Secret Service getting involved and freezing wallets and controlling Tether tokens may make you wonder how much control the government has. But its important to know that Tether decided to disable tokens in wallets on the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets and Controls) sanction list to follow the rules and stop illegal activities. Even though this collaboration might be concerning it's really important to find a balance between following regulations and keeping cryptocurrencies decentralized.
And Tether is not decentralized token it can be controlled in my point of view. There is the CEO of this company. The only one which is Bitcoin that don't have any CEO this is totally decentralized. Tokens like Tether can be controlled at any time. So in my point of view this is not a new thing.
If the Tether will depegg today so who will be safe here. So US is trying to control this.

[adaseb]

So I understand the FBI but why the secret service? Don’t they just deal with protecting the president. Why are they involved in cyber crimes involving crypto currencies.

Yeah this is scary but it might be more of a move to move bad people off their stable coin when they know It’s being watched by federal agents.

Wonder how much of its market cap is involved in these illegal activies? It approaching almost $100B.

[kentrolla]

This is a tricky situation wherein Tether is playing safe to stay away from the radar of regulators and it has a valid reason since these wallets were on the sanction list of Office of foreign assets and control but involving FBI and secret services is bit alarming and not because it makes it clear that in future government of US will be patronizing USDT, started with USDT but in future they can do the same to target any cohort of customer let's say if they make ban trading or even set some limit then once USDT has Bowes sown to them and they will do the same once again. I foresee downfall of Tether soon if this continues.

[Makus]

Hahaha it is very obvious the government are trying to find their way Into controlling Tether, though all these happening are associated with the hack at ledger connectkit, and it might seem the government are just trying to track the hacker, but giving them this privilege might also be the beginning of a new era in tether, where their activities would be strictly monitored and controlled by the government. I lack words to express how fucked up the crypto network would be, in the influence and control of the government.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

imagine having the FBI and Secret Service needing to approve your bitcoin wallet. That's what the USA government wishes could happen. Looks like they are getting their way with tether...which is kind of concerning that the USA government will now effectively control tether.

Except that tether is not bitcoin, though.

This is not a secret, It is a well known fact that Tether is a private-centralized token that has an owner/owners who can mint and freeze assets inside anyone's address any time they want. This can not happen with bitcoin unless if one goes on to use custodial wallets.

[Bureau]

Tether was always a controversial stable coin, this what they have disclosed to the public. There may many more wallets that they have frozen which will remain undisclosed. Comparing Bitcoin with Tether is not required here both have different purposes. Tether is an instrument of the government whereas Bitcoin is not and will never become one.

[larry_vw_1955]

they say they did this for transparency but it seems like from now on the government can and will definitely have a look into different addresses containing usdt
will this affect their users?

It might!
https://cryptonews.com/news/tethers-usdt-stablecoin-depegs-from-us-dollar-on-exchanges-after-company-froze-435m.htm

Tether’s USDT, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, depegged from its intended $1 price amid growing scrutiny over the company’s December 15 announcement of a wallet-freezing policy in collaboration with law enforcement agencies including the DOJ, FBI, and Secret Service.

The USA government is bound to mess up tether. Kind of like a bull in a china shop...

i feel like some would be ok with the idea of tether implementing a more secure system but on the other hand, the involvement of the government totally goes against the concept of crypto

Data from CoinMarketCap shows USDT dipping as low as $0.985 at times in major exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, indicating a deviation from its dollar peg.

98.5 cents is not good but I guess manageable. Get down to 95 cents though and you're talking scam.

There may many more wallets that they have frozen which will remain undisclosed.

  Anyone that would keep a significant amount of money in tether has has to be crazy. I'm talking about like a significant amount of their net worth.

[Yogee]

1. Centralized exchanges releasing user personal information and block suspected accounts or transactions
2. Mining pools rejecting transactions from blacklisted wallets
3. Tether freezing USDT

They've done quite a lot and they are not stopping there.

The next thing I want to see is these exchanges delisting USDT from all their trading pairs as a retaliation. Binance could spearhead this hehe.

[electronicash]

1. Centralized exchanges releasing user personal information and block suspected accounts or transactions
2. Mining pools rejecting transactions from blacklisted wallets
3. Tether freezing USDT

They've done quite a lot and they are not stopping there.

The next thing I want to see is these exchanges delisting USDT from all their trading pairs as a retaliation. Binance could spearhead this hehe.

nope. delisting usdt will not serve their purpose if they are up for surveillance but sure they will freeze lots of accounts even outside the US. so it might not be safe to store the usdt in your ether wallet after the bull run.

sure many of us will have our stablecoins lying in our wallets by that time and it is right for the picking for the FBI agent. but i think they will not really freeze your usdt when you did nothing wrong.

[Hispo]

It was destined to happen, I guess.
We are talking about a centralized stablecoin which tries to emulate the value of the biggest FIAT by volume and liquidity on the planet, obviously the FBI/CIA/United States government wished to get involved. The sad true is that those behind Tether and those behind big exchanges like Coinbase and Binance only wish to see their business to continue to grow, regardless what kind of laws they need to comply to be in good terms with regulators, so they can continue to operate, so there wont be any retaliation by Binance or any other centralized entity whatsoever.

By the way, all this makes be think about those very big and successful Ponzi squemes which had taken place on the internet and stole millions of dollars in USDT from people who got deceived by unrealistic interest rates. It would be interesting to know whether those men in black would feel willing to try to get that money back to the victims or they are just in for censoring and centralizing the whole ecosystem as much as possible.

I wonder what those entities would plan to do for decentralized stablecoins like DAI, will they force exchanges to delist them completely?

[larry_vw_1955]

By the way, all this makes be think about those very big and successful Ponzi squemes which had taken place on the internet and stole millions of dollars in USDT from people who got deceived by unrealistic interest rates. It would be interesting to know whether those men in black would feel willing to try to get that money back to the victims or they are just in for censoring and centralizing the whole ecosystem as much as possible.

They're not even in it for censoring the remain reason they're in to it is to seize the money for themselves just like the drug war just like everything always trying to seize the money for themselves So no I don't think that they're interested in helping people get their money back that would be the last thing on their mind

I wonder what those entities would plan to do for decentralized stablecoins like DAI, will they force exchanges to delist them completely?

Probably.  If that meant that more people had to use tether

[Sophokles]

imagine having the FBI and Secret Service needing to approve your bitcoin wallet. That's what the USA government wishes could happen. Looks like they are getting their way with tether...which is kind of concerning that the USA government will now effectively control tether.

they say they did this for transparency but it seems like from now on the government can and will definitely have a look into different addresses containing usdt
will this affect their users? i feel like some would be ok with the idea of tether implementing a more secure system but on the other hand, the involvement of the government totally goes against the concept of crypto

They have done this for their own safety. They knew that government will come for them as they have become too big in the industry that the government will try to look into their inventory that what they are doing. Also for being the largest stablecoin protocol and so much liquidity concreted into it, it can be an exit point for illegal money.

[electronicash]

It was destined to happen, I guess.
We are talking about a centralized stablecoin which tries to emulate the value of the biggest FIAT by volume and liquidity on the planet, obviously the FBI/CIA/United States government wished to get involved. The sad true is that those behind Tether and those behind big exchanges like Coinbase and Binance only wish to see their business to continue to grow, regardless what kind of laws they need to comply to be in good terms with regulators, so they can continue to operate, so there wont be any retaliation by Binance or any other centralized entity whatsoever.

By the way, all this makes be think about those very big and successful Ponzi squemes which had taken place on the internet and stole millions of dollars in USDT from people who got deceived by unrealistic interest rates. It would be interesting to know whether those men in black would feel willing to try to get that money back to the victims or they are just in for censoring and centralizing the whole ecosystem as much as possible.

I wonder what those entities would plan to do for decentralized stablecoins like DAI, will they force exchanges to delist them completely?

and they are going to be useful for the government. when they say  'who controls the money controls the world.' it does mean they also wanted to control the stablecoins.
it feels like there is no real CBDC and we are actually on board already which the real CBDC is the stablecoin in crypto.

DAI i think will also onboard the FBI on their platform. they wouldn't be able to collect tax from those users in the DEX if MakerDAO is not able to cooperate with the government.

[batang_bitcoin]

So this is the next step for Tether and probably the other stablecoins as well. We're getting occupied now by the regulators and the government themselves that are tasked to maintain intelligence and threat. So that's how it goes with the threat and they probably are seeing something that's needed to be done. What's next? there is USDC, GUSD and the other stable coins that's owned by the companies and exchanges.

[criptoevangelista]

Tether is a centralized currency, this is always the risk. Stablecoins are always insecure, it's like using the traditional financial system, at any time there can be a problem and you will have money stuck.

Now I doubt they will do this with btc.

[jacafbiz]

I believe this is a worn path being taken by the Tether team, I know they are on a lot of pressure but the issue of Crypto being used for scam or fraud is a pure fallacy. I think there is need for a Decentralised Stablecoin, DAI also has failed in this regard. If wallets can be blocked arbitrarily, anyone using Tether need to watch their back

[Mate2237]

imagine having the FBI and Secret Service needing to approve your bitcoin wallet. That's what the USA government wishes could happen. Looks like they are getting their way with tether...which is kind of concerning that the USA government will now effectively control tether.

This matter is getting out of hand oh! And when we look at what is happening in the forum things are getting worse day by day. Sinbad was seize by USA government and through that process of suspicious moves and investigations, the admin of the forum was pressurized to ban Mixers in the forum and the achievement of the government was successful and couple with the Tx fee is another problem. I am even suspecting that ordinals are from the government to destroy Bitcoin network. The Matter is not a joking one again. Government is trying all their best to control cryptocurrency but it will be hard for them to do it with Bitcoin. And let see what happens in the future.

[o48o]

This is a tricky situation wherein Tether is playing safe to stay away from the radar of regulators and it has a valid reason since these wallets were on the sanction list of Office of foreign assets and control but involving FBI and secret services is bit alarming and not because it makes it clear that in future government of US will be patronizing USDT, started with USDT but in future they can do the same to target any cohort of customer let's say if they make ban trading or even set some limit then once USDT has Bowes sown to them and they will do the same once again. I foresee downfall of Tether soon if this continues.

Playing safe is kinda understatement. They are complying because if they wouldn't be, they would be out of business and probably fined, if not jailed for not complying with AML laws.
So they don't want to get to CZ treatment, which is something that any sensible team that wants to stay out of jail will choose.

And it's not only US that's pressuring them. They are just one branch of the many. FATF hq isn't even in United states.