Tether starts buying Bitcoin (BTC); Ripple buys Metaco for $250 million; Pakistani Finance Minister says crypto will never be legal.
Stablecoin issuer Tether has announced its new investment strategy. Tether is starting Bitcoin (BTC) purchases.
The stablecoin issuer announced that it will start buying Bitcoin through its official Twitter account as of May 17.
Tether is gearing up to regularly buy Bitcoin for stablecoin reserves, using some of its earnings as of May. According to the statements made, Tether will keep the Bitcoins that it will buy with 15 percent of its profits, without using a third-party depository.
As it is known, Tether is the issuer of USDT, which has a value of $82 billion in the crypto market. Tether did not disclose last week that it holds $1.5 billion in BTC and $3.4 billion in gold among assets that support the value of USDT and its smaller stablecoins. Now, the stablecoin issuer is starting regular Bitcoin purchases.
Tether’s chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, also made statements on the subject. Stating that Bitcoin has now proven itself, Ardoino stated that the leading cryptocurrency has a significant growth potential. Ardoino also sees Bitcoin as a long-term store of value.
Ripple buys Metaco for $250 million
Ripple, which has recently been in a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced that it has acquired the custody company Metaco.
Ripple will now be able to offer its customers tokenized assets storage, issuance services and payment tools.
Although Ripple has acquired Metaco, which allows financial institutions to store and manage digital assets, the company will continue to operate as an independent brand. In addition, it was stated that Metaco founder and CEO Adrien Treccani will continue to lead the company.
Metaco, which started to serve in 2015, serves many companies such as large banks, global escrow companies and financial institutions. Among the companies that Metaco serves are Citi, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.
On the other hand, there is a legal process between the SEC and Ripple that has been waiting to be concluded for years. Ripple and XRP community woke up with good news. As it is known, the former finance director of the SEC, William Hinman, made statements in 2018 that Ethereum (ETH) is not a security. The SEC then requested that Hinman’s statements be sealed.
But Judge Analisa Torres, who is hearing the SEC and Ripple case, refused to seal the Hinman Papers last night. With this news, there was a festive mood in the Ripple community, while the company side also evaluated the decision as a victory.
Pakistani Finance Minister says crypto will never be legal
According to local media reports, Pakistani Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha, in a statement at the Senate Finance and Revenue Standing Committee meeting on May 16, stated that crypto money services operating in Pakistan will be banned and crypto trading will never be legalized. Other officials, including Sohail Jawad, Director of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), also supported this statement.
Pasha said that banning cryptocurrencies is one of the requirements set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The country was removed from the FATF’s gray list last October. The gray list includes countries that the agency considers to be inadequate in its Anti-Money Laundering and Prevention of Terrorist Financing measures, but is working with to address their shortcomings.
The Pakistani crypto Twitter community reacted to the decision and called for the crypto ban not to be upheld. A user named Daniyal Azam said, “I pray that the government will focus on areas that lead to scams and entrapment practices instead of banning crypto.”
Although the FATF does not impose sanctions on countries that do not comply, its findings can affect company policies. Pakistan’s economy is currently in deep crisis and tense bailout negotiations are underway with the IMF.