In a Twitter thread posted on June 27th, Paolo Ardoino clarified a Wall Street Journal report that highlighted that traditional hedge funds are trying to short tether through one of the largest crypto brokerages, Genesi Global Trading.
According to him, the same hedge funds believe Tether is not 100% backed and that it had exposure to Evergrande and 85% exposure to Chinese commercial paper. Ardoino also stated that the hedge funds also believe Tether is "issued from thin air" and that "lenders were borrowing from Tether without over-collateralization."
Ardoino reiterates that the USDT was 100% backed and Tether has remained transparent over the years. The company also plans to phase out its reserves in the form of commercial paper and replace them entirely with US Treasuries.
"But as we always said, Tether had/has in fact >= 100% of the backing, never failed a redemption and all USDt are redeemed at 1$."
Ardoino went ahead to highlight that Tether's commercial paper exposure has been reduced from $45 billion to $8.4 billion. He also mocked those hedge funds who recently had trouble, saying they were considered "holy heroes" in the industry.
Despite ongoing controversy, USDT is currently priced at $1.00, at parity with the U.S. dollar as intended.