{"id":16764,"date":"2025-11-27T12:08:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/tether-ceo-hits-back-at-sp-over-weak-stablecoin-rating\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T12:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:08:07","slug":"tether-ceo-hits-back-at-sp-over-weak-stablecoin-rating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/tether-ceo-hits-back-at-sp-over-weak-stablecoin-rating\/","title":{"rendered":"Tether CEO hits back at S&amp;P over weak stablecoin rating"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino slammed S&amp;P Global Ratings after it gave the company\u2019s stablecoin its lowest stability score, citing disclosure gaps and high-risk reserves.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_3127e5c99750dbe7d015e0bf1080b475\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>S&amp;P rated tether\u2019s stablecoin \u201c5 (weak)\u201d, pointing to limited transparency and growing exposure to bitcoin, gold, secured loans, and corporate bonds.\u200b<\/li>\n<li>Ardoino framed the rating as a failure of traditional finance to assess an overcapitalized crypto firm operating without \u201ctoxic reserves\u201d while remaining profitable.\u200b<\/li>\n<li>S&amp;P warned that price drops in bitcoin and other risky assets could undercut tether\u2019s overcollateralization buffer, though most reserves sit in short-term US Treasuries and cash equivalents.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino issued a statement criticizing S&amp;P Global Ratings following the agency\u2019s assignment of a low score to the company\u2019s stablecoin, according to posts on social media platform X.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">to S&amp;P regarding your Tether rating: <\/p>\n<p>We wear your loathing with pride.<\/p>\n<p>The classical rating models built for legacy financial institutions, historically led private and institutional investors to invest their wealth into companies that despite being attributed investment grade\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Paolo Ardoino \ud83e\udd16 (@paoloardoino) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/paoloardoino\/status\/1993731485291913649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">November 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spglobal.com\/ratings\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">S&amp;P Global Ratings<\/a> assigned Tether\u2019s stablecoin a score of \u201c5 (weak)\u201d on its stablecoin stability scale, the lowest rating on the five-point scale, the agency announced in a recent report. The rating agency cited \u201cpersistent gaps in disclosure\u201d and an increasing proportion of \u201chigh-risk assets\u201d in Tether\u2019s reserves as primary factors for the assessment.<\/p>\n<p>The reserves in question include Bitcoin, gold, secured loans, and corporate bonds, according to the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spglobal.com\/ratings\/en\/regulatory\/delegate\/getPDF?articleId=3486415&amp;type=COMMENTS&amp;defaultFormat=PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">S&amp;P report<\/a>. The agency stated that the stablecoin\u2019s transparency and governance practices lag behind those of competing stablecoins.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>Ardoino responded to the rating on X, stating that Tether would \u201cwear your loathing with pride.\u201d The executive criticized traditional grading models used in conventional finance, noting that such models had previously directed investors toward companies that subsequently collapsed, prompting regulators to examine the independence and objectivity of major rating agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Ardoino characterized the low score as evidence of the traditional finance sector\u2019s difficulty in evaluating a company attempting to operate outside conventional financial systems. The CEO described Tether as the first overcapitalized company in the industry, asserting it operates without toxic reserves while maintaining profitability.<\/p>\n<p>In its stability report, S&amp;P stated that Bitcoin (BTC) comprises approximately 5.6% of Tether\u2019s stablecoin in circulation, exceeding the company\u2019s 3.9% overcollateralization buffer. The agency warned that declines in Bitcoin\u2019s value or other high-risk assets, including corporate bonds, precious metals, or secured loans, could result in the stablecoin becoming undersecured.<\/p>\n<p>A substantial portion of the reserves consists of short-term U.S. Treasury bills and other dollar-denominated cash equivalents, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>S&amp;P noted that the issuer provides limited transparency regarding the financial stability of its custodians, counterparties, and banking partners, contributing to the low rating. The agency indicated the rating could improve if Tether reduces exposure to high-risk assets and provides more detailed information about its reserves and partners.<\/p>\n<p>Tether\u2019s stablecoin maintains its position as the largest stablecoin by market capitalization.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino slammed S&amp;P Global Ratings after it gave the company\u2019s stablecoin its lowest stability score, citing disclosure gaps and high-risk reserves. Summary S&amp;P rated tether\u2019s stablecoin \u201c5&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16765,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764\/revisions\/16765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}