Stablecoin giant Tether has made a strategic investment of $775 million into video-sharing and cloud services platform Rumble, which is considered the closest rival of YouTube.
The investment is expected to help propel Rumble’s growth and put it in a position to challenge YouTube, which has retained dominance in the video-sharing realm for the longest time.
While the parties are celebrating the investment, many in the cryptocurrency community are trolling the move, with some arguing that Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, is just “vaporware” unless it provides the necessary audit reports.
Tether Goes Big on Rumble
Tether announced its investment in Rumble Friday, revealing that the investment is a reflection of “our shared values of decentralized, independence, transparency, and the fundamental right to free expression,” as per Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
Chris Pavlovski, the chairman and CEO of Rumble, said he believes Tether is “the perfect partner that can put a rocket pack on the back of Rumble as we prepare for our next phase of growth.”
Crypto Users Remind Rumble of Tether’s Issues
While some crypto users said they were happy about the news and were bullish of the development, many reminded Rumble that Tether has various issues hounding its business practices.
One user said Tether will be just “vaporware” – an advertised product that is either just a concept or is still being developed – until it actually provides transparent audits to prove that it has the dollar reserves backing its USDT stablecoin, which is the world’s largest stablecoin by market value.
Another user said the strategic investment “sounds like a disaster ready to happen,” seemingly suggesting that Rumble made the wrong choice of taking in Tether as an investor.
“Love Rumble and Bitcoin but I am very sketched out by Tether,” said another user.
For one crypto user, Rumble should have discussed an investment opportunity with Ripple, which recently launched its own stablecoin, RLUSD.
Why Crypto Users are Trolling Tether
Tether remains the most widely-used stablecoin in the crypto market, but in recent months, the company has been under fire amid allegations of corrupt business practices and concerns about its supposed “dodging” of audits over the years.
In August, Tether was in the headlines after defunct cryptocurrency exchange Celsius filed a lawsuit over Tether’s USDT loan to the exchange during its bankruptcy proceedings in 2022.
Celsius alleged that Tether’s move of taking 39,500 BTC from the crypto exchange for collateral was “preferential and fraudulent.” Tether said Celsius’s claims were baseless and it won’t “fall prey to shameless litigation money grabs.”
Also, this year, Tether was accused of “shady” business operations in a billboard in Times Square, grabbing the attention of the crypto industry as the Consumers’ Research ad alleged that the USDT issuer had been “refusing to be audited and constantly dodging fraud investigations.”
To compare, Ripple’s RLUSD is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), which puts the fintech firm in a position where it cannot dodge any audit requirements.
Tether has yet to respond to the latest uproar from crypto users who demand transparency from the stablecoin titan.
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