Tether CEO bashes JPMorgan’s ‘hypocrisy’ amid stablecoin dominance concerns

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino slammed Wall Street giant JPMorgan’s “hypocrisy” to raise concerns about the stablecoin issuer’s dominant position in the cryptocurrency market while being the “biggest bank in the world.”

In a Feb. 2 statement sent to CryptoSlate, Ardoino stated that Tether’s market dominance has proven crucial for the emerging industry despite the negative perceptions that its competitors and banks have about it.

“Tether’s market domination may be a ‘negative’ for competitors including those in the banking industry wishing for similar success but it’s never been a negative for the markets that need us the most,” Ardoino quipped.

On Feb. 1, JPMorgan expressed apprehensions about Tether’s impact on the broader crypto market, citing concerns about its “lack of regulatory compliance and transparency.” The Wall Street giant also expressed fears of how Tether poses a risk for crypto due to its deep integration within the system

Furthermore, the bank compared Tether unfavorably to Circle, noting the latter’s greater regulatory compliance.

However, these comments were met with a stiff reaction from Ardoino who defended Tether’s resilience, citing its performance during last year’s banking crisis , and highlighted the company’s collaboration with regulators to enhance understanding of Blockchain technology.

“Tether demonstrated more resilience in a black swan event than several major U.S. banks last year. As we recognize the significance of our invention, we’ve always worked closely with global regulators to educate them on the technology and provide guidance on how they must think about it,” Ardoino stated.

The Tether CEO further chimed that JPMorgan’s comments “seems hypocritical” because it is “from the biggest bank in the world.” He expressed concern about such remarks from a bank that has incurred nearly $40 billion in fines and encouraged JPMorgan to draw lessons from Tether’s success in the stablecoin sector.

Tether’s USDT is the largest stablecoin by market capitalization and one of the most popular digital assets. The stablecoin has seen its market share rapidly expand during the past year, thanks to the regulatory issues that has impacted rivals like Circle’s USDC and Binance-backed BUSD .

Tether’s latest attestaion report showed that this dominance translated into a net profit of 10% of JPMorgan’s earnings for the last quarter of 2023.