Vitalik comments on FTX incident: "Tether is surprisingly stable, altruism should not be mixed with venture capital funds"

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Vitalik comments on FTX incident: "Tether is surprisingly stable, altruism should not be mixed with venture capital funds"

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin praised Tether for its performance during this bear market, while also questioning the altruism that SBF has always touted, criticizing those who claim to be charitable but retain a portion of the token supply after issuance without directly donating to reputable charitable organizations.

Vitalik: Tether Exceeds My Expectations

Freelance writer Noah Smith's meme metaphorically suggests that the next breaking point in the crypto market will be the relationship between Binance and USDT issuer Tether.

However, Vitalik uncommonly speaks positively about Tether:

I have to admit that I have been highly critical of Tether in the past. The transparency of Tether's current asset-backed token mechanism does not meet the standards I approve of. However, considering that several large institutions have already encountered problems in the current bear market, Tether's performance has exceeded my expectations.

Vitalik calls for everyone to stop placing large institutions on a pedestal and start respecting builders. Especially with the significant progress in the ZK-EVM field this year, he mentions the following projects and acknowledges that he may have missed some:

Altruism a Facade?

Vitalik mentions altruism, clearly referring to SBF, the founder of FTX, who has always promoted altruism. He states:

If you issue tokens, don't hold back some supply and plan to donate it later. Just donate directly to GiveWell, OpenPhil, or any other charity organization. Don't involve a damn fund in between; just give the money away.

Vitalik points out that this is also why he urges all Dogecoin-related projects not to send coins to him:

If you must misuse my name, please donate those coins directly to those charity organizations, using "X% of the supply donated to charities approved by Vitalik" as a marketing tactic, but it's best to provide a reason.

CZ also responded to Vitalik, stating that issuing tokens will lead to various issues - is it for personal gain or charity? Not to mention liquidity, token inflation, and other issues.