In the world of crypto, FUD stands for fear, uncertainty and doubt. It’s often evoked intentionally to draw negative attention to a particular project or business. One of crypto’s most enduring legacies has been the constant FUD surrounding Tether, whose USDT stablecoin commands a market capitalization of nearly $68 billion. Whether intentional or not, The Wall Street Journal ran a story this week claiming that Tether was on the edge of technical insolvency and that it wouldn’t take much to push the stablecoin issuer into financial peril. Of course, Tether didn’t take it lying down and immediately issued a response to what it considered to be a “disinformation” campaign by the Journal.
Regardless of which side of the debate you’re on, it’s becoming clear that there is a strong media bias against Tether. In fact, the Journal ran a story a few months ago claiming that more hedge funds were betting against the stablecoin around the same time that the crypto market as a whole was plunging.