Why did Tether directly accuse Ripple’s CEO of being “confused” amidst allegations of money laundering?

Tether Freezes $5.2 Million Worth of USDT
Tether, the issuer of the stablecoin USDT, has recently frozen $5.2 million worth of USDT. This amount is related to prevalent “phishing scams” and is found in 12 suspicious Ethereum wallets.
The security director of blockchain analytics firm SlowMist stated that these wallets have been used for money laundering in phishing scams. In other words, criminals may use phishing emails or fake websites to deceive victims into providing personal and account information, and then transfer the funds to different accounts to make them harder to trace.
In fact, Tether has been very proactive in combating illicit money flows. Since its inception, Tether has frozen $1.3 billion worth of suspicious assets related to hacker attacks, fraud, and even terrorist financing, including approximately $1.6 million related to terrorist financing.
Further reading:
Not just a leading stablecoin! Tether transforms into a “financial ecosystem builder” with four major sectors: data, finance, energy, and education.
Tether actively cooperates with law enforcement agencies to strictly monitor illegal wallets and money flows.
Tether closely monitors suspicious USDT addresses and usually takes measures to blacklist them.
For example, the company previously blocked three Ethereum USDT addresses holding over $150 million in value in January 2022. Then, in October 2022, it froze $8.2 million worth of Ethereum USDT and added 215 Ethereum addresses to the blacklist.
Tether’s response to money flows related to terrorist attacks has also been swift, including $817,000 USDT related to actions in Ukraine or Israel in October 2023. In November 2023, $225 million USDT from romance scams was frozen.
In March 2024, Tether collaborated with the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to uncover $1.4 million worth of USDT from a fraud network related to technical support.
Earlier this year, the United Nations reported that due to its ease of transfer and widespread use, USDT is the preferred cryptocurrency for money laundering, leading to speculation that the US government may launch an investigation. Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, recently stated on the podcast “World Class” that he believes the US government is about to investigate Tether, despite its important role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino responded to this claim, calling Garlinghouse an ignorant CEO leading a company under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Ardoino pointed out that Garlinghouse is spreading fear about USDT.
In his post, Ardoino emphasized that USDT is the most widely used stablecoin in the world, with hundreds of millions of users in emerging markets and developing countries. He stressed the company’s transparency through blockchain technology and its cooperation with global law enforcement agencies to ensure security. So far, Tether has collaborated with 24 law enforcement agencies and has received 198 requests to block wallets in the past year.
Source:
CoinTelegraph
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CoinMarketCap