Tether has remained one of the most confusing aspects of cryptocurrency even after its growth in acceptance. Decentralization has been a critical component, and primary identity associated with cryptocurrencies, from beginnings. However, the term was not used even once in Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper. Similarly, decentralisation is only one of many unanswered questions surrounding Tether. Current discussion is about Tether’s statement this week that around $160 million worth of stablecoin USDT would be frozen.
According to Tether administrators, three Ethereum-based USDT accounts worth more than $150 million were frozen owing to a request from law enforcement. It was Tether’s first blacklisting attempt in 2022. Since November 2017, the blockchain has banned approximately 560 accounts.
Tether authorities in the past informed that by the freezing of accounts, Tether has been able to help in the recovery of funds which are stolen by hackers or compromised. This has sparked heated arguments in the crypto community about how much power blockchain authorities should have over the network which has largely accepted decentralisation.
For a long-time, crypto supporters have been typically unhappy with Tether’s level of market control, even if the ultimate result is the replacement of assets vanished due to the activities of wicked scammers.
In the latest development, recent US government investigation of stablecoins – especially USDT and USDC – has likely resulted in significant growth of more decentralised alternative methods, specifically UST and DAI – the market’s third and fourth largest stablecoins.
