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Tether Being Extorted for $22 Million Worth of Bitcoin

Sun, 02/28/2021 - 18:25
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Alex Dovbnya
Tether truthers are getting increasingly desperate by trying to blackmail the leading stablecoin issuer
Tether Being Extorted for $22 Million Worth of Bitcoin
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Tether is being extorted for 500 Bitcoins ($21.8 million at press time), according to its Twitter announcement.

In its ransom note, the sender claimed that they would leak some damning documents that could harm the entire cryptocurrency industry if the stablecoin issuer didn’t comply with their demand.

Tether is refusing to pay, describing the ransom plot as “desperate” while adding that the incident has already been reported to law enforcement:

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.

Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether and Bitfinex, quipped that Tether truthers should have asked for sending them Bitcoin’s total supply of coins: 

Now Tether Truthers are even trying to blackmail us. Business idea for the next attempt: ask for 21M BTC, via a sealed courier and a couple of pizzas too.

Related
Tether Freezes $1.7 Million Stolen by Yearn Finance Hacker

The emails are fake

Apparently, Tether’s recent settlement with the New York Attorney General wasn’t enough to put an end to the misinformation and blatant conspiracy theories surrounding the top stablecoin.

Earlier today, a series of unconfirmed emails between Tether and its banking partner Deltec Bank & Trust started circulating on social media.

Tether states that all the allegedly leaked documents that are making rounds online are fake.

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About the author

Alex Dovbnya (aka AlexMorris) is a cryptocurrency expert, trader and journalist with extensive experience of covering everything related to the burgeoning industry — from price analysis to Blockchain disruption. Alex authored more than 1,000 stories for U.Today, CryptoComes and other fintech media outlets. He’s particularly interested in regulatory trends around the globe that are shaping the future of digital assets, can be contacted at alex.dovbnya@u.today.