CEO Cantor Fitzgerald Praises Tether and Bitcoin
Howard Lutnick, CEO of Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has praised stablecoin issuer Tether, describing himself as a “big fan” of the company.
“I’m a big fan of the stablecoin called Tether…I own their vault. So I keep their treasury and they have a lot of treasury,” Lutnick said in a Dec. 11 interview with CNBC.
“Tether is currently valued at over $90 billion,” said CEO Cantor Fitzgerald. “So I’m a big fan of Tether.”
In particular, Cantor Fitzgerald is helping manage Tether’s multibillion-dollar Treasury portfolio, even as many Wall Street firms have shunned the cryptocurrency business, especially due to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.
A February 10 report in the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said Cantor’s partnership with Tether began in late 2021.
Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick on Tether on CNBC:
“I am a huge fan of the stablecoin called Tether. I hold their treasury… and they have a lot of treasury holdings. They are currently worth over $90 billion… I am a huge fan of Tether. I’m a fan.” https:// /t.co/mKeDnSe3iM
— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) December 12, 2023
Cantor Fitzgerald is one of the few brokerage firms that trades Treasury bonds, along with Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard.
Cantor CEO Howard Lutnick Comments on Bitcoin and Tether pic.twitter.com/E4j3uFdbAl
— Nick Carter (@nic__carter) December 13, 2023
Other large financial institutions have been reluctant to offer Tether services. Wells Fargo stopped processing wire transfers for Tether as a correspondent for Taiwanese accounts in 2017.
Despite being the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, Tether continues to be criticized for a lack of transparency about its reserves. In the recent S&P Global stablecoin stability assessment, it performed poorly, ranking second lowest among eight stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar.
The assessment took into account the company’s performance in asset management, auditing, risk appetite, primary market repayability, secondary market payment rails and maintaining the US dollar peg.
Despite his wariness about long-term stability, Lutnick suggested that Tether could be helpful to countries with currency collapses, such as Argentina. Argentina’s new Bitcoin-friendly president, Javier Milei, has pledged to abolish Argentina’s central bank and convert to the US dollar.
Related: Former Cantor Executive Launches Cryptocurrency Lending Platform in Anticipation of Bitcoin ETF
Similar thoughts were echoed by James Check, senior on-chain analyst at blockchain analytics firm Glassnode. He called Tether a “CBDC” that will be controlled by the U.S., but it may also become increasingly dependent on developing countries that want the dollar.
Tether is a CBDC.
If USG can shut down Russia’s reserves, Travis is dead. It’s hard to argue that they don’t have the ability to shut down Tether.
The most likely reality is that the USG discovered infinite bids for Treasury bonds right when it needed a bailout in an unsustainable situation… https://t.co/0i903ARV9x
— _Checkɱate ⚡☢️️(@_Checkmatey_) December 13, 2023
Lutnick also likes Bitcoin
The CEO initially claimed he was a “fan of cryptocurrencies,” but later went back to offering more specific praise for Bitcoin.
“These other coins are nothing (…) just kind of virtual. Maybe Ethereum is okay too.”
Lutnick cited Bitcoin’s halving cycle and lack of a centralized entity as one of the two main reasons he believes holding Bitcoin is worthwhile.
“The only asset people can have that no one can take away? Bitcoin (…) is out of control,” Lutnick said. “With Tether, when you call Tether, it freezes. Ethereum lets you call Joe Lublin.”
magazine: Beyond Cryptocurrencies — Zero-Knowledge Proofs Show Potential from Voting to Finance
