Tether, the company behind USDT, has confirmed that it has received a ransom note demanding it either pay 500 Bitcoin or risk anonymous entities exposing documents that could hurt the entire Bitcoin ecosystem.
The company tweeted about having received a note on Sunday and didn't spare anything, warning the nefarious parties that law enforcement has been informed of the communication.
“While we believe this is a pretty sad attempt at a shakedown, we take it seriously. We have reported the forged communications and the associated ransom demand to law enforcement. As always, we will fully support law enforcement in an investigation of this extortion scheme”, the company said.
Tether's USDT role in the crypto market is unique as its value is not determined by how many people hold it or trade it, but rather by the value of the US dollar.
In light of this, some members do not consider Tether to stand for the original libertarian views held by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Tether is a likely party to be targeted by hackers as the market capitalization of the company went from $34bn from $2bn in the space of one year.
Some speculation has swirled as to whether Tether keeps everything above board, as one email thread between a Tether employee and Deltec reps revealed on Twitter.
Tether has quickly stepped in to dispute any rumors that it's allowing the Bahrain bank to hold USDT. Previously, Tether settled with NYAG in the case of a loan made to sister exchange Bitfinex. As with any big business, Tether has its hands in a lot of pies, but this does not necessarily mean that it has done anything wrong.
That is unless credible proof is produced by the extortionist who has incurred the wrath of Tether and possibly that of law enforcement.
USDT in the meantime has been a preferred gaming token at many igaming casinos, such as Bitcasino, 1xBit and FortuneJack.
