Note that Tether regularly faces criticism both within and outside the crypto industry. For example, in March 2023, journalists at The Wall Street Journal reported that Tether was using fake documents and shell companies to open bank accounts – this allegedly happened in 2018. According to them, one of the owners of Tether Holdings Ltd deliberately signed a forged document, which allegedly could be construed as fraud.

At the same time, Tether representatives called the allegations outdated and untrue. Well, Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino said that the world needs new media, as these media outlets are spreading misinformation.

How is Tether related to Signature?

Tether is the issuer of the largest USDT stackablecoin by capitalisation. Given what happened with Signature, any ties and problems with the bank could reflect on the company’s reputation as well as cause panic among USDT holders.

Tether’s technical director Paolo Ardoino has already commented to Bloomberg journalists. He duplicated his response with the following tweet.

As I stated on March 12, 2023, Tether did not have any direct or indirect dependence from Signature.

As a reminder, Paolo did comment earlier on Tether's strategy regarding banks. He said that Stablecoin issuers need to take care of the security of their collateral. In this regard, Tether is sort of using banks in different jurisdictions.

According to Unchained sources, Signet was an instant payment network from Signature Bank for digital assets. While the future of the network looked uncertain after Signature shut down last month, a Coinbase exchange speaker confirmed that it was still operational. Here’s the relevant replica.

As of Tuesday, Signet is still functioning, with all past and future customer deposits still insured by the FDIC.

The continuation of the network has been made possible by Signature Bridge Bank, a temporary organisation set up by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). However, it is not yet clear whether Tether is currently using the Signet platform. Either way, the collapse of the bank itself and other financial institutions partnering with cryptocurrencies has caused a liquidity crisis in crypto for some time.

In other words, there is not much money in the industry right now, as it has become more difficult for some players to enter the world of digital assets. The same goes for coin withdrawals, the lack of which has prevented some market participants from opening positions.

Be that as it may, the banking crisis in the US is not preventing other financial institutions around the world from introducing new services related to digital assets for their customers. In particular, Swiss bank PostFinance is preparing to offer its customers cryptocurrency trading and storage services, Cointelegraph reports.

The bank’s management has partnered with local crypto platform Sygnum to offer its customers a range of regulated digital asset banking services, it was announced on the bank’s social media the day before. The partnership will allow PostFinance customers to buy, store and sell the most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Etherium.

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The new customer services will be provided as part of Sygnum’s institutional business offering, which provides banks with a gateway to regulated and compliant digital products. The B2B network includes more than 15 partner banks and supports “a range of cryptocurrencies”, offering services for passive income streaking.

According to the bank’s chief investment officer Philip Merkt, PostFinance’s joining the initiative was a response to growing customer demand. Here’s a pertinent rejoinder from an employee of the organisation.

Digital assets have become an integral part of the financial world, and our clients want access to this market at PostFinance, their trusted mainstream bank.

PostFinance was founded in 1906 and is the financial services arm of Swiss Post, Switzerland’s national postal service. The bank is known for its pro-cryptocurrency stance. In particular, PostFinance employees have previously created their own cryptocurrency storage platform, and in 2021 they launched an NFT collection dedicated to postage stamps.

The announcement of PostFinance’s cryptocurrency trading services came shortly after Swiss Post announced the launch of Crypto Stamp 3.0. It is a large-scale project to issue digital postage stamps with its own NFT tokens and artificial intelligence technology. The new Swiss Post crypto stamp will go on sale on 2 May 2023.


We think Tether is really doing a good job regarding its own viability. Still, the company faces criticism and various rumors more often than other representatives of the crypto-industry, but despite that it continues to stay afloat. In addition, the rate of USDT is also happy with stability, which could not be said about USDC in March. Recall, this stack fell to 87 cents due to 8 percent of the token's reserves at the closed Silicon Valley Bank. However, the USD Coin situation eventually stabilised one way or another.