The battle between Tether, one of the largest stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market, and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has been long and arduous. Tether has been fighting against what it claims is biased and misleading coverage by the WSJ for years, sending the tension to a boiling point. In its latest statement, Tether slammed the WSJ for what it sees as biased reporting and failure to target the “right culprits” in the cryptocurrency industry. This comes after years of allegations and accusations from both sides, with Tether denying claims of artificially inflating the price of Bitcoin and the WSJ questioning the legitimacy of Tether’s backing of USDT tokens.
Tether Becomes Target of Outdated and Misleading Coverage
Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has strongly criticized the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and other traditional media outlets for their negative coverage of the company while simultaneously promoting other cryptocurrency firms that have ended up as some of the biggest financial failures in history.
This scathing attack comes just two days after Silvergate Bank, another high-profile crypto-related company, suffered a significant downturn due to the current crypto winter. Tether’s condemnation of the WSJ highlights the ongoing tension between the stablecoin issuer and the media, with both sides trading accusations and denials over the years.
In a blog post published today, Tether accused the Wall Street Journal of publishing “outdated, inaccurate, and misleading” reports about the blockchain firm. Tether’s post also refuted a recent WSJ article that claimed the company’s operations were not in compliance with US regulations. Tether wrote,
“This conflicts with the reality that Tether operates under substantial financial regulations and cooperates on a near-daily basis with global law enforcement. This includes regular cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice and other top tier US agencies, while not servicing US-based customers.”
WSJ Published 84 Negative Reports on Tether
Tether has accused the Wall Street Journal of unfairly targeting the Hong Kong-based blockchain firm, claiming that the popular news outlet has a history of “rarely focusing on the right targets” in the crypto industry. Tether pointed to several high-profile crypto firms that have collapsed in recent months, including FTX, Genesis, and Celsius Network, as examples of companies that the WSJ should have been investigating instead.
Tether noted that 84 articles about or mentioning the company in the WSJ from Jan. 1, 2021, to Jan. 1, 2022, are negative. In contrast, Tether said that the WSJ had issued 28 reports about or mentioning FTX, with “almost all of them positive.”
Amidst the current turmoil in both the crypto and stock markets, Tether has released the blog post, coinciding with the liquidation of Silvergate and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SBV) stocks.
The latest blow to the crypto industry with Silvergate’s liquidation further supports Tether’s claims. Tether, which has been subject to intense scrutiny in recent years regarding its solvency and transparency, has weathered significant downturns in the cryptocurrency market. Despite criticism, its USDT stablecoin continues to remain one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.
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Shayan Chowdhury
Shayan is a digital nomad and a professional journalist. He delivers high-quality engaging articles to Coinpedia through his in-depth research and analysis.
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Tether, the USD backed cryptocurrency, fought back against the Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) recent reports which the firm claimed were biased, ill-researched and ignored the real culprits in the cryptocurrency industry.
The article published by WSJ, Tether Used to Boost Bitcoin Prices, New Study Finds, was released on June 13th 2019, and raised concern by purporting that Tether had been used to manipulate crypto prices, specifically Bitcoin.
Tether answered with a statement of its own rejecting the WSJ claims. Tether said it was “deeply disturbed at the findings presented” in the article and that the research was based on “incomplete, incorrect and biased data.”
The firm further accused WSJ of one-sided reporting for failing to present other relevant data or of ignoring the evidence of manipulation from third parties in the crypto markets. In particular, Tether noted that the article failed to mention the potential impact of futures trading and other derivatives in the crypto industry.
Tether concluded its statement by calling on the crypto industry to “ensure that the terrible misuse of manipulative trading strategies that has undermined the integrity of the crypto markets…is brought to light and addressed.”
Despite the accusations leveled against the WSJ article, market participants noted that the data presented in the article was accurate, even if it was incomplete. Tether may be justified in its criticism of the WSJ, but it is also worth noting that Tether itself has come under fire recently as questions have emerged over alleged manipulation of the Bitcoin market.
It remains to be seen whether Tether’s response will have sufficient impact to ensure that WSJ gives more balanced coverage of cryptocurrency industry in future.
