Bitcoin Falls as Israel Attacks Iran, Wall Street Journal Claims Tether is Under Investigation

Cryptocurrency prices plunged late Friday after Israel attacked Iran and a Wall Street Journal report saying the U.S. government is investigating Tether

Bitcoin fell late Friday after Israel launched airstrikes against several military targets in Iran.

The Israel Defense Forces released a statement and video on The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7 – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil. Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and duty to respond. Our defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilized. We will do whatever is necessary to defend the State of Israel and the people of Israel.”

Source: X

Wall Street Journal launches FUD attack on Tether

The WSJ published today and claims that Tether is being investigated for possible violations of sanctions and anti-money laundering regulations. The WSJ said its sources said the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office was investigating whether this was the case Connection has been used to finance or launder funds related to criminal activities such as terrorism, drug trafficking or hacking.

The WSJ said the Treasury Department is also considering sanctions due to the use of Tether by U.S.-sanctioned groups, including organizations like Hamas and Russian arms dealers. In the event of a sanction, Americans would generally be prohibited from interacting with Tether.

The news caused Bitcoin to fall sharply to $66,200 before recovering, then falling again to $66,183 on news that Israel had launched attacks against Iran.

Source: Brave New Coin Bitcoin Liquid Index

Did the Wall Street Journal make a mistake?

We’re not sure. But Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino thinks so. He reached out to , as the article falsely claims. Based on this, we can confirm that the claims in the article are clearly false.” He also wrote: “As we told the WSJ, there is no evidence that Tether is under investigation. WSJ revives old noise. Point.”

Source: X

Tether, with its value pegged to the US dollar, is the most traded cryptocurrency with daily transactions of up to $190 billion. Its stability makes it useful in regions where the use of the U.S. dollar is restricted, but federal authorities are increasingly concerned about its ties to issues such as North Korea’s nuclear program and Mexican drug cartels. Tether counters these allegations by saying, “To suggest that Tether is somehow involved in supporting criminal actors or evading sanctions is outrageous,” and claims that the company is cooperating with law enforcement to combat illegal activity.

Years ago, the Justice Department began investigating Tether’s backers for alleged bank fraud. Since then, Tether has introduced stricter controls to monitor illegal usage. The company argues that its transparent accounting system deters criminal use and allows authorities to track transfers more efficiently. Tether recently strengthened its compliance measures by working with analytics firms Chainalysis and TRM Labs to improve transaction monitoring and hired a new head of government affairs from PayPal to strengthen its regulatory efforts.