Tether's "$8 Billion Pile of Gold in a Secret Swiss Vault"

Crypto Firm Tether Holds $8 Billion Pile of Gold in a Secret Swiss Vault

Tether Holdings SA, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, has its own vault in Switzerland to hold an $8 billion stockpile of gold, with an eye to growing those stores.

The El Salvador-based crypto company now holds nearly 80 tons of gold, it said. The vast majority of that is owned by Tether directly, making it one of the largest gold holders in the world outside of banks and nation states.

“We have our own vault. I believe it’s the most secure vault in the world,” Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino said in an interview. The facility is in Switzerland, although the company declined to name its location for security reasons, or disclose when it was established.

How Crypto Lobbying Won Over Trump

Since Mr. Trump’s election, the price of Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency, has skyrocketed to over $100,000, enriching executives who supported his campaign. Crypto advocates who were shunned in Washington during the Biden administration now enjoy astonishing access to the Trump White House, which has quickly unwound the regulatory crackdown. And the federal government has embraced sweeping pro-crypto policies that could upend the U.S. financial system for decades.

All of that resulted from one of the great lobbying free-for-alls in recent history. For months, industry executives, paid lobbyists, campaign operatives, and Trump business partners and family members orchestrated a diffuse but stunningly effective influence operation that turned Mr. Trump from an outspoken Bitcoin skeptic into crypto’s most important supporter.

Goldman Asks Junior Bankers to Swear They Haven’t Landed Private Equity Jobs

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to ask junior bankers to confirm their loyalty on a regular basis in a bid to limit advances from talent-hungry buyout firms.

The investment bank will ask new analysts to certify every three months that they haven’t accepted jobs elsewhere, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the confidential plan.

A representative for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

The move is meant to thwart poaching by private equity firms that have been signing up junior bankers near the start of their on-the-job training, a practice known as on-cycle recruitment. Some buyout shops are even approaching newbies before they show up for their analyst programs, stoking tensions across the industry.

The Limits of CLARITY: Disclosure, Classification, and the Path Forward for Crypto Legislation

I have long argued—including in written testimony to Congress—that the SEC should be granted exclusive oversight of crypto markets. This is hardly a radical position; even SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has acknowledged that the CFTC is not well-equipped to regulate crypto spot markets. In a 2023 speech at the Digital Assets at Duke conference, Commissioner Peirce stated:

“Some people within crypto would prefer to see regulatory authority over token disclosures and spot markets given to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”). The CFTC’s retail experience is more limited than the SEC’s. Moreover, if the CFTC were given regulatory authority over crypto spot markets, would there soon be calls for the CFTC to regulate other spot markets, such as wheat, oil, and corn markets? Adding crypto to the CFTC’s remit also would stretch the small agency’s resources.”

My approach would streamline the classification of crypto-assets into just two categories: securities and non-securities. Rather than reinvent the wheel in determining which crypto-assets qualify as securities, I would retain CLARITY’s definition of “digital commodity” but relabel it as “crypto-asset security.” Notably, CLARITY’s definition already includes appropriate exclusions for assets like meme coins and NFTs, which I believe should remain outside the SEC’s jurisdiction.