Most cryptos have direct (or 1-hop) channels with me, Stu, and many others in the Company.  Our ringtones are always loud day and night. No matter where we are, what we’re doing, we always give priority to our community.

Regarding, Polynetwork hack, I got messages from > 10 different people at the same time and telegram calls. Within 20mins the Tether tech team organized the multisig freezing process. This case was extremely simple. Information was peer/public-validated, we acted immediately.

The address we froze just receiving 100s M USD equiv. of crypto assets from Polynetwork contracts. Fresh address, no other activity. It wasn’t an active part of any DeFi pool / DEX / CEX.  No doubts.  Frozen funds will be released back to the legitimate owner once there is confirmation/proof of proper actions taken to restore the security of the bridges.

General procedure:  Sometimes, Tether users report private hacks/scams and request an address freeze. ALL information needs to be gathered to Tether via [email protected] with attached a Law Enforcement letter that confirms the claimant information/request. A detailed LE confirmation and endorsement is critical because there is no publicly available information – claimant needs to go through Tether_To banking grade KYC/AML process – address(es) don’t need to be part of CEX/DEX/DeFi pools, Tether won’t affect others.

The general process of freezing and re-issuing is extremely thorough (people that went through it can surely confirm it). Compliance and Law Enforcement interactions are mandatory to protect all Tether users and Tether Company itself.

Tether manages the re-issuance phase extremely carefully. Tether needs to ensure that there are no other claimants; hence there is a delay (of several months) to allow other parties to contact Tether and make their case as well.

Crypto must be different from traditional financial actors. It is made by peers who want to create a better future, peers who understand that things won’t ever change without being a community. Otherwise, we circle back to be just old-fashioned banks.

Tether team wants to be part of this story; we care to protect crypto. We do it with all the passion we are capable of. Sometimes we face difficulties, but we have many friends who share our ideals, and we become stronger. This is what happens when you genuinely innovate.

Community response:  There are no simple and easy solutions to challenges of this magnitude.