Tether and Bitcoin Get Major Wall Street Endorsement

Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, has recently expressed strong support for both Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, and Bitcoin. In a CNBC interview, Lutnick stated, “I’m a big fan of this stablecoin called Tether…I hold their treasuries. So I keep their treasuries, and they have a lot of treasuries.” This endorsement is significant as Tether’s portfolio now exceeds $90 billion.

Highlighting a key feature of Tether, Lutnick remarked, “With Tether, you can call Tether, and they’ll freeze it,” referencing the ability to freeze assets in response to sanctions. He contrasted this with Ethereum, saying, “with Ethereum, you can call Joe Lubin.”

The only asset people could have held where no one could take it? Bitcoin!

Cantor Fitzgerald, a leading Wall Street firm, has been managing Tether’s extensive United States Treasury portfolio, a role often avoided by other financial institutions, particularly post the Silicon Valley Bank crash. Cantor Fitzgerald is among a select group that trades Treasury bonds, along with Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard.

Despite being the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, Tether faces skepticism and was recently rated poorly in S&P Global’s stablecoin stability assessment. This evaluation considered factors such as asset management, audits, risk appetite, market redeemability, payment rails, and the ability to maintain its U.S. dollar peg.

Major banks like Wells Fargo have nevertheless distanced themselves from Tether; in 2017, Wells Fargo ceased processing wire transfers for Tether’s Taiwanese accounts.

Lutnick sees potential for Tether, and by extension Bitcoin, in countries facing economic challenges. He highlighted the situation in Argentina, where the new Bitcoin-friendly president, Javier Milei, has pledged to abolish the central bank and adopt the U.S. dollar.