• Tether (USDT) denied a bailout request from SBF, the CEO of FTX.
• SBF had requested billions of dollars in aid in return for being one of Tether’s largest clients.
• Blockchain data suggests that Tether could have minted up to $500 million for SBF’s companies in a single transaction.
As the world continues to grapple with the fallout from the implosion of FTX and Alameda, stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) has revealed that it had turned down a request for a bailout from SBF, the CEO of FTX.
SBF had apparently asked Tether to return a favor in the form of billions of dollars in aid, as FTX had been one of Tether’s largest clients. At its peak, FTX had minted over $36 billion in USDT, which is almost half of Tether’s entire circulating supply.
However, Tether officials declined the request after SBF reportedly declined to provide any details about the economic help he needed. According to Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s Chief Technology Officer, SBF sounded uneasy with the request, which was never the case before.
“He suddenly asked for something that he had never asked for before, and he wasn’t talking about $10 million. The way he was talking suggested that he had a big issue. His request was in the billions,” Ardoino said.
SBF had also reportedly asked for bailout funds from the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. However, while Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) declined the bailout, FTX’s FTT token plummeted drastically in a few hours, liquidating billions of dollars.
Tether intends to clarify its relations with FTX and SBF as investigators close in on the blockchain activities that led to the exchange’s collapse. Moreover, blockchain data suggests that Tether could have minted up to $500 million in a single transaction for SBF’s companies. As such, calls for a Tether USDT audit have been increasing lately to ensure that every minted and burned USDT is accounted for.
Given these revelations, it remains to be seen how the global crypto community will react to the news. In the meantime, it is clear that Tether is committed to being transparent about its dealings and will continue to provide as much information as possible to the relevant authorities.