Deltec, Tether’s Bahamas-based bank, announced Thursday it was investing some customer funds in bitcoin. A lawyer for Tether denied that any of those funds were Tether’s.
Still, the announcement, made by Deltec Bank & Trust Chief Investment Officer Hugo Rogers during a year-in-review video, may raise new questions about whether the dollar-pegged USDT stablecoin, which is in theory backed by cash and “cash equivalents,” as well as “other assets and receivables made by loans,” is actually backed in any way by bitcoin.
“We bought bitcoin for our clients at about $9,300 so that worked very well through 2020 and we expect it to continue working well in 2021 as the printing presses continue to run hot,” Rogers said in the video.