Consumer's Protection, a California nonprofit, has launched a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign using television spots, billboards and other forms of outreach to bring attention to the Tether stablecoin’s business practices.
The centerpiece of Consumers’ Protection’s “seven figures” campaign is a 30-second television spot that asks, “Is Tether the next FTX?” and calls Tether (USDT) the “go-to cryptocurrency for the world’s worst.” The comparison with FTX is due to the absence of an audit of Tether’s reserves.
In addition, the nonprofit will fund a digital billboard on Times Square in New York City and mobile billboards in New York and Washington, DC.
The (selective) truth about Tether
It has created a website featuring lurid illustrations and links to unfavorable mainstream media and crypto journalism coverage of the stablecoin. Judging from the material available so far, Consumers’ Protection backs up its claims only with easily verifiable secondary sources.
Related: Cantor Fitzgerald head on Tether reserves: ‘They have the money’
The Consumers’ Protection campaign tacitly acknowledges the growing role stablecoin plays in the lives of the public. Executive director Will Hild said in a statement:
“Consumers should be weary [sic] of any so-called stablecoin that refuses to properly certify that they actually hold the assets they claim."
While corporate interest in stablecoins is growing rapidly, less than 10% of transactions using them are made by “real people,” according to research cited by Bloomberg in May.
Tether has problems already
Tether is making inroads into the consumer market, however. It launched a mobile app in May aimed at consumers on Telegram, for example. PayPal’s PayPal USD (PYUSD), launched in August, is also oriented toward consumers.
Tether may have bigger challenges that come from regulation. Several crypto exchanges are delisting or considering delisting USDT ahead of Europe’s new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) legislation.
Consumers’ Protection, which was founded in 1929, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization in United States tax parlance. The organization is backed predominantly by religious and conservative groups. Other campaigns by the organization include its “Fight against ESG” and its reporting form for consumers who spot corporate “woke.”
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