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Tether, the company issuing the most widely-used stablecoin, USDT, has revealed that it got a ransom demand for 500 BTC. The sender has threatened the company to leak documents to the public that would “harm the bitcoin ecosystem.”
Tether Gets a 500 BTC Ransom Demand
Tether, the issuer of the popular USDT stablecoin, took it to Twitter to reveal that someone had threatened to leak documents to the public in an attempt to “harm the bitcoin ecosystem.”
The company explained that “forged documents are circulating online purporting to be between Tether personnel and reps of Deltec Bank & Trust and others. The documents are bogus.”
Furthermore, Tether explained that they’ve also received a ransom demanding 500 BTC, which is currently worth around $23.6 million. They also revealed that unless the ransom is paid, the sender would “leak documents to the public in an effort to harm the bitcoin ecosystem.” Also, Tether has no intention of paying the money.
What Now?
At the time of this writing, there’s no further information on what’s going to happen next.
It is unclear whether this is a basic extortion scheme like those directed at other crypto companies or people looking to undermine Tether and the crypto community as a whole. Either way, those seeking to harm Tether are getting increasingly desperate.
The company also said that the “forged communications and the associated ransom demand” were reported to law enforcement.
Interestingly enough, all of this comes about a week after Tether and Bitfinex reached a settlement with the office of the New York Attorney General, putting an end to a year-long lawsuit that many thought could really harm the ecosystem. Nevertheless, the company admitted to no wrongdoings and agreed to pay an $18.5 million fine.
However, as part of the settlement deal, the company has also agreed to no longer be able to deal with customers from New York.
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