Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick believes the new United States spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will have limited impact on confidence in cryptocurrency after it took such a beating last year, he expressed at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. But, he had good words to say about Tether.
Lutnick was bullish on Bitcoin (BTC) as he spoke to Bloomberg TV. “BTC is going to stay steady, I think, but when the halving comes, it’s going to rally and grow,” he said. The spot BTC ETFs are “just a way for Americans to buy it,” but Bitcoin “isn’t an American thing,” according to Lutnick:
“I can give you money on Venmo and PayPal. […] This is a speculative asset for us [Americans]. But for countries like Argentina, Venezuela, Turkey, these crypto assets matter. Stablecoins matter in those countries. It’s a way to hold on to the dollar.”
Lutnick’s enthusiasm for stablecoins is not by chance. The financial services company he heads manages Tether Holdings’ U.S. Treasury securities portfolio. Lutnick gave assurances about Tether (USDT):
“I manage many, many of their assets. […] From what we’ve seen, and we did a lot of work, they have the money they say they have.”
Tether has faced criticism for its nontransparent accounting practices, and it received the second-lowest rating in S&P Global’s stablecoin stability assessment. While it has had attestations, the stablecoin issuer has never been audited and has been the target of rumors and speculation about its financial state. Its last attestation report was released on Oct. 31, 2023.
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Tether and parent company Bitfinex reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s office in February 2021 that required it to submit reserve reports quarterly for two years. Tether is reportedly working on a real-time reserves reporting system that may appear in 2024.
Billionaire and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick says, “When the halving comes, #bitcoin will start to rally and grow”pic.twitter.com/XVJSIrEJqm
— Documenting ₿itcoin (@DocumentingBTC) January 16, 2024
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