Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse names the US government’s next crypto target

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, expressed concern about the US government’s scrutiny of Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer by market capitalization.

Garlinghouse made the statement in an interview, sharing his perspective on success, lessons learned from Silicon Valley over the years, and XRP’s global impact.

Garlinghouse highlights Tether’s regulatory concerns

During an interview with Chris Vasquez on the World Class YouTube channel, Garlinghouse predicted another crypto-related black swan event similar to the collapse of FTX and the exposure of its executives’ fraud.

He then urged that it be clear that the US government is going after Tether, the largest issuer of stablecoins. While Garlinghouse didn’t directly label any potential US action against Tether as the next black swan event, he described it as “interesting to watch.”

Expressing the importance of Tether within the crypto ecosystem, he highlighted his uncertainty about the potential impact of US regulatory actions against the company.

As for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Garlinghouse criticized the agency’s tactics, describing the regulator as a “bully” that targets the weakest entities in the crypto space through “malicious and manipulators”. In particular, Ripple has scored some victories in its lawsuit filed by the SEC last July.

Despite the agency’s efforts, he remains confident in the crypto industry’s resistance to regulatory attempts. Meanwhile, he also reiterated his belief that the crypto market has the potential to reach a market cap of $5 trillion by the end of this year. He advised investors to take a long-term perspective, cautioning against diving straight into crypto trading.

Garlinghouse’s comments about Tether coincide with Ripple’s plans to launch its stablecoin later this year.

US Officials Investigate Tether

The interview comes as Adewale Adeyemo, the US Deputy Treasury Secretary, recently testified before the Senate Banking Committee. He pointed to Russia’s growing reliance on alternative payment methods such as Tether’s USDT to circumvent economic sanctions.

In October 2023, US Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative French Hill urged the Department of Justice to investigate how Binance and Tether may be supporting and funding terrorist activities. Tether responded, affirming its cooperation with law enforcement and its commitment to global collaboration.

In October 2021, Tether paid a $41 million fine to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission following allegations that it had misrepresented its reserves to customers. The regulator found that Tether had sufficient fiat reserves to back USDT on only 27.6% of the days between June 1, 2016 and February 25, 2019.

Tether has also continuously faced criticism for its lack of transparency regarding its backing reserves. It has recently sought to address these concerns by publishing quarterly third-party audits of its treasury supported by the USDT.

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored) Binance Free $600 (Exclusive to CryptoPotato): Use this link to register a new account and receive an exclusive welcome offer of $600 to Binance (full details).

LIMITED OFFER 2024 for CryptoPotato readers on Bybit – Use this link to register and open a $500 BTC-USDT position on Bybit Exchange for free!