Tether issued a rebuttal on Wednesday after S&P Global Ratings reduced USDT’s resilience evaluation to its most inferior level, contending that the organization predicated its judgment upon antiquated hypotheses and the stablecoin’s ten-year history was disregarded of upholding its par value.
Tether Criticizes S&P After USDT Stability Score Drops to Its Lowest Tier
S&P decreased USDT’s resilience metric to a rating of five — the most deficient designation on its index — citing escalating vulnerability to elevated-risk reserve holdings and purported voids in Tether’s public accounts, pertaining to the entity’s most recent examination. Their document specifies that Bitcoin now constitutes a larger apportionment of USDT’s collateral, concluding that a precipitous decline in Bitcoin’s market valuation could render the stablecoin inadequately backed.
Tether, in contrast, countered publicly, emphatically contesting both the technique and the findings. The corporation asserted that S&P employed an antiquated fiscal paradigm that “is inadequate to encompass the essence, magnitude, and macroeconomic significance of electronic-native currency,” further stating that the examination disregards USDT’s functional trajectory, its live reserve accounting, and its growing footprint in worldwide trade.
Doubt from established assessment bodies is considered a “symbol of distinction,” Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino affirmed, highlighting the corporation’s persistent conviction that conventional credit blueprints remain unsuited for appraising electronic-asset foundation.
“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 ratings collapsed pushing worldwide regulators to challenge such models, the independence and objective assessment of all major rating agencies,”
Ardoino posted to X.
“The traditional finance propaganda machine is growing worried when any company tries to defy the force of gravity of the broken financial system. No company should dare to decouple itself from it.”
He added:
In its counterstatement, Tether contended that S&P’s concentration on an enlarged fraction of “hazardous holdings” mischaracterized the overall situation. While the document highlighted an uptick from 17% to 24% annually, Tether observed that aggregate backing grew from $143.7 billion in 2024 to $181.2 billion in 2025, signifying that the corporation retains more superior-caliber reserves in pure figures than has ever been held throughout its existence.
The counter-argument additionally underscored that Tether is entirely conformant with oversight structures in El Salvador and France, in conjunction with enrollment under the U.S. Fiscal Infractions Enforcement Agency. The corporation further emphasized that USDT’s expansion rebuts multiple premises upon which S&P’s examination was predicated.
In adherence to Tether, employment metrics persist in ascending across bourses, decentralized finance systems, payment channels, and transnational transactions — indices that the firm declares are incompatible with the fluidity and reimbursement hazards implied in the assessment. S&P’s own document conceded that, notwithstanding apprehensions, USDT has invariably sustained its par value and redemptions have been honored.
Tether further portrayed USDT as fundamentally essential infrastructure rather than a conjectural commercial instrument. The corporation’s pronouncement, which was distributed, stated the stablecoin facilitates money transfers, staff compensation, and business transactions throughout developing economies from Turkey to Nigeria and Argentina, where access to the dollar is frequently restricted. It also claimed that USDT’s practical application distinguishes its hazard configuration from the premises incorporated in conventional appraisal blueprints.
A further salient aspect in Tether’s counter-argument is the magnitude of its United States sovereign debt exposure. The corporation highlighted that with approximately $135 billion in direct and derivative holdings, it is positioned as one of the preeminent Treasury proprietors worldwide — roughly the seventeenth-largest globally, pursuant to its most recent verification. Tether stated this standing is irreconcilable with S&P’s depiction of the firm as susceptible to fluidity pressures.
Fiscal outcomes were also pivotal to Tether’s rebuttal. The corporation affirmed it produced over $13 billion in pure earnings in 2024 and more than $10 billion since the beginning of 2025, exceeding the revenue of numerous principal banking organizations. In adherence to the firm, these gains fortify its surplus collateral cushioning and long-term permanence is strengthened outside the bounds of S&P’s assessment.
Notwithstanding the contention, S&P indicated the metric could be enhanced if Tether lessens vulnerability to more perilous holdings and supplies more complete revelation concerning collateral composition and principal fiscal collaborators. Tether expressed that the prospect for S&P to inspect its structure directly and appraise USDT utilizing “actual-market forces” instead of conventional paradigms is welcomed. This report succeeds the evaluation from the New York-headquartered financial behemoth Jefferies, where Tether’s vast gold commitment was reviewed.
