Tether Might Be Your Plumber’s Preferred Payment Soon
Stablecoins such as Tether may be a useful way to dodge taxes.
Photographer: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
It’s still not uncommon for a domestic builder or plumber to ask for payment in cash. Soon, they might ask for Tether or another stablecoin instead.
Bankers, consultants and regulators have spent a lot of time thinking about the challenge these constant-value crypto tokens pose to bank deposits. There’s also real concern about their use in terror financing, drug trafficking and money laundering. But for the UK and Europe especially there’s a much more banal problem with billions at stake — everyday, low-level tax dodging. This helps explain why governments on the eastern side of the Atlantic are far more determined to be involved in stablecoins than the US is.