Binance CEO CZ talks about the concerns tied with Tether [USDT]

In an interview with Ran NeuNer [CryptoTrader] at the Korea Blockchain Week held between 16th July to 20th July, Changpeng Zhao [CZ], the Founder and CEO of Binance, discussed how the 10th largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Tether [USDT] will have an impact on Binance with its performance.

CZ’s cryptocurrency exchange Binance is one of the largest holders of Tether. NeuNer asked CZ for his insights on the possible collateral damage that could be faced by Binance in case of Tether’s downfall. To this, the businessman responds by stating that though the situation is worrying, the threat holds true in case of other cryptocurrencies as well.

He also drew upon the example of fiat currencies and their history of market crashes. CZ said:

“We have seen fiat currencies go down in history a lot. Probably more times than they have been in cryptocurrencies. So yes the concern is always there and that’s also why we’re listing other stable coins as well, so we actively promote other stable coins including the TUSD, …and others.”

Binance does this in the hope of diluting the potential risks for the exchange.

NeuNer also asked CZ if he has any concerns regarding Tether, as held in general by the entire cryptocurrency community. According to CZ, Tether is an entity of much concern and worry.

CZ also mentioned meeting up with the Bitfinex team. Regarding Bitfinex and Tether, he said:

“…I haven’t personally seen their bank accounts but, from a logical point of view… They have so many profits from their regular exchange business, they don’t need to do anything crazy about the Tethering. I think the reason they cannot release their bank account details is because if they release whichever bank they’re using, then the bank account gets shut down.”

During the past year, Bitfinex and Tether have together swum in deep controversies associated with Bitcoin price manipulation. It was claimed by two researchers of the University of Texas, namely, John M. Griffin and Amin Shams that the Bitcoin prices were artificially inflated in December when the digital gold reached its all-time high at almost $20,000.

Griffin detected a pattern in the flow of Tether on the Bitfinex platform. According to the researcher, these patterns indicated towards deliberate attempts by several insiders from the exchange to pump up the prices. Tether was utilized as a secondary virtual cryptocurrency to bring up others. Bitfinex is also believed to have created and sold Tether.

Following these accusations, the two firms also received a subpoena in December of 2017.

On Binance, Tether is available for trading with almost all the big coins. Some of the pairs are BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, BCC/USDT, XRP/USDT, TRX/USDT, ADA/USDT, BNB/USDT, EOS/USDT among many others.

Recently, Binance has taken a step forward towards revolutionizing the international demand for liquidity of the cryptocurrency market by announcing its partnership with the blockchain credit firm Libra Credit. According to their official website, Libra Credit is a ‘decentralized lending ecosystem that facilitates open access to credit anywhere and anytime based on the Ethereum blockchain.’