Zhao Dong, Bitfinex's main investor, has just said that Tether plans to release a new version of the stablecoin USDT backed by a basket of commodities such as gold, oil and rubber.
During a conversation with Cointelegraph, he stated the objective of the launch of this currency is to avoid the risks associated with storing large amounts of fiat money in banks. He said:
"Tether is fully backed by reserves, out of 4 billion existing USDT about 3.35 billion are now in securities and 650 million are being lent to Bitfinex. Bitfinex has been raising 1 billion with it's LEO token IEO and could easily pay back Tether any time (as a matter of fact it already paid 100 million last month). Even if you don't calculate this 650 million as reserves the total amount backed by USD is 83.75% (3,350/4000) and not 72% as fake news are reporting."
He has added that the only reason why the exchange has not yet cleared its debt with Tether is because the company wants to recover the funds that were frozen in its accounts at payment processor Crysto Capital.
Besides, the company has also highlighted that one of its priorities is to get rid of the restrictions on cash imposed by the Office of the New York Attorney General (NYAG).
He has also referred to Tether’s plans to issue the CNHT, a stablecoin pegged to the Chinese renminbi:
"CNHT will not interfere with PBOC capital control policy because CNH is different than CNY, as it's already an offshore product. On the contrary, CNHT will help China expand the adoption of CNH for international settlements."
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