Bitcoin falls after a report says the FBI is investigating Tether

A report in the WSJ could cool the crypto market.

• DOJ and Treasury investigating Tether over potential sanctions violations and illicit activity
• Manhattan US attorneys leading criminal probe into possible links to drugs, terrorism, hacking
• Treasury mulling sanctions against world’s most traded crypto ($190B daily volume)
• Comes as Tether steps up compliance, recently froze 1,850 wallets worth $114M
• Investigation examining if stablecoin used to evade sanctions by Hamas, Russian arms dealers
• Tether strongly denies allegations, says working with law enforcement
• Cantor Fitzgerald manages $80B+ of Tether’s Treasury holdings
• Follows $4.3B Binance settlement and previous $61M regulatory fine

Bitcoin is down 2.5% to $66,450 today and is under pressure on this report as it’s a sign that the whole ecosystem is under threat.

Update: A Tether spokesman sent up a statement.

“It is wildly irresponsible for WSJ to write articles with
reckless allegations with such certainty when no authorities have gone on the
record to confirm these rumors, and no sources are named. These stories are
based on pure rank speculation despite Tether confirming that it has no
knowledge of any such investigations into the company. The article also
carelessly glosses over Tether’s well-documented and extensive dealings with
law enforcement to crack down on bad actors seeking to misuse tether and other
cryptocurrencies.”

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.