The issuer of the largest by market capitalization stablecoin Tether (USDT) said it had become the target of a ransom attempt for 500 BTC (about $23 million at the time of writing).
Today we also received a ransom demand for 500 BTC to be sent to bc1qa9f60pved3w3w0p7snpxlnh5t4uj95vxn797a7. The sender said that, unless they receive the BTC by tomorrow, they will leak documents to the public in an effort to “harm the bitcoin ecosystem.” We are not paying. 2/5
— Tether (@Tether_to) February 28, 2021
Tether said that an unknown person threatened to publish documents that could “harm the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
“We are not paying,” the message said.
Representatives also noted that a fake correspondence between one of their employees and Deltec Bank, which holds Tether’s assets, appeared online. The contents of the letters call into question the stablecoin’s full reserve backing.
They confirm 1) being backed with crypto and 2) they try to fool regulators about that fact (2/7) pic.twitter.com/DhjTXq81x6
— RiskIndemnity 🌷⏳ (@RiskIndemnity) February 28, 2021
“We reported the fake messages and ransom demands to law enforcement,” Tether said.
In January 2021, the Bahamas-based Deltec said that the stablecoin fully backed by fiat reserves.
As of writing, USDT’s market capitalization stands at $35.2 billion, according to CoinGecko. By this metric the asset trails Cardano, Ethereum and Bitcoin.
In a related note, Bitfinex and Tether will pay $18.5 million to New York State in a case over the company’s financial operations tied to the $850 million loss.
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