Howard Lutnick, the richest man on Wall Street and the head of the country’s famous Bitcoin bulls, said he would support federal reviews of the stablecoin reserves during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. &nbsp,

Lutnick’s personal organization, Cantor Fitzgerald, now custodies billions of dollars in assets that again Tether, the nation’s largest bitcoin. The earth has had to take the company’s word for it, though, as no independent firm has verified how many fiat money Cantor however holds on Tether‘s behalf.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA ) grilled her today about the lack of stablecoin reserves ‘ current regulations, and Lutnick backed the requirement of stockpile inspections.

” I believe U. S. dollar stablecoins should be audited, ]and ] should be completely backed by U. S. Treasuries, 100 %”, he said. &nbsp,

When Cantwell responded by enquiring whether the businessman thought the country should follow a especially strenuous stablecoin reserve audit process, Lutnick responded,” For sure.”

Cryptocurrencies like Tether are apparently supported by U.S. Treasuries for billions of dollars. This approval gives investors more assurance that the tokens will continue to bear their brand and remain anchored to the value of the US dollar. Illiquid cryptocurrencies have historically fallen below zero, wreaking havoc on financial industry.

Given Tether’s recent market cap of$ 39 billion and the growing importance of cryptocurrencies to the world economy, the lack of collateralization could cause significant issues for the crypto industry.

In recent days, politicians including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA ) have expressed concerns about Lutnick’s nomination to Commerce Secretary, given Tether’s reported popularity among criminals.

Your support for and financial aid for Tether, as well as that company’s ongoing links to illicit finance and legal action, raise significant questions about your own personal view and the conflicts of interest you will have if you are confirmed as Commerce Secretary, Warren wrote in a email sent to the businessman earlier this year.

Warren did not attend Lutnick’s confirmation hearing, however—she was busy grilling Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. over his nomination to become Secretary of Health and Human Services.

In Warren’s absence, while Lutnick did face a question about Tether’s connection to criminal organizations, he appeared to bat it away with relative ease. &nbsp,

In response to a question on the subject from Sen. Cantwell, Lutnick argued that Tether is extremely well-known and that it is bound to be used by bad actors just as frequently as the U.S. dollar is.” It’s like blaming Apple because criminals use Apple phones,” Lutnick said. &nbsp,

Additionally, he claimed that Cantor Fitzgerald does not own any of Tether. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Lutnick did state that he was confident that the United States government would soon be able to use AI tools to “rid the world of criminals using blockchain for illicit activity” and that the blockchain of stablecoin issuers would be used to “rid the world of criminals using blockchain for illicit activity.”

Ultimately, questions about Lutnick’s relationship to Tether only took up a minor portion of the hourslong hearing, and did not appear to rattle the nominee.

Cantwell, the only senator to question Lutnick about digital assets on Wednesday, even went out of her way to clarify her support of the industry. &nbsp,

” I’m a big crypto person in general”, she assured the entrepreneur at the start of her questioning.

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