Standard & Poor’s has downgraded Tether, the stablecoin issuer and second-largest shareholder of Juventus behind Exor, to Level 5 in its Stablecoin Stability Assessment – the lowest rating on the scale. Calcio e Finanza report that the decision reflects concerns about Tether’s ability to maintain its one-to-one peg with the US dollar.
The downgrade was met with strong criticism from Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, who took to X to express his frustration in a lengthy post beginning with the words “We wear your disgust with pride.” His message reflected deep dissatisfaction with what he described as flawed and outdated financial evaluation models.
Ardoino argued that traditional rating systems were developed for legacy financial institutions and have historically guided investors toward companies that ultimately failed despite being granted investment-grade ratings. This, he said, has forced regulators worldwide to question the independence and objectivity of major rating agencies.
“The propaganda machine of traditional finance begins to worry whenever any company dares to challenge the gravitational pull of a broken financial system,” Ardoino continued. “No company should ever dare to decouple from it.”
He went on to defend Tether’s financial strength, claiming it has built the first overcapitalised company in the financial industry without holding toxic reserves. “Tether remains extremely profitable,” he concluded. “It stands as living proof that the traditional financial system is so broken, it now fears those who expose its fragility.”
