In a new twist in the saga concerning Tether’s 100% fiat backed claim, a recent website update has poured even more controversy as to whether or not all USDT deposits have a 1:1 US dollar backing.

The company which has faced numerous controversies and accusations regarding their transparency and operations originally stated on their website on February 19^th that:

 “Every tether is always backed 1-to-1, by traditional currency held in our reserves. So 1 USD₮ is always equivalent to 1 USD.”

However, discreetly, Tether has now made changes to that statement, with the new update reading:

“Every tether is always 100% backed by our reserves, which include traditional currency and cash equivalents and, from time to time, may include other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties, which may include affiliated entities (collectively, “reserves”). Every tether is also 1-to-1 pegged to the dollar, so 1 USD₮ is always valued by Tether at 1 USD.”

While it hasn’t been made clear what Tether refers to as in ‘other assets and receivable loans’ it would fair to assume that along with USD, some cryptocurrencies constitute their holdings.

In regards to ‘third parties and affiliated entities’ Tether has widely been speculated to have a close relationship with the exchange Bitfinex, which has a complex ownership structure with the stablecoin.

The issue surrounding Tether’s USD holdings has been a predominant situation in cryptocurrencies for a long period now.

Last year Tether published a letter by Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP and later Noble Bank, which confirmed their deposit of 100% backed USD.

However, the veracity of both was dubious at best, and Noble Bank later declared insolvency.

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