According to @HenriArslanian, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Tether’s USDT stablecoin to its weakest score within its stablecoin stability assessment framework (source: @HenriArslanian on X, Dec 19, 2025; source: S&P Global Ratings Stablecoin Stability Assessment framework). For trading, monitor 1) USDT/USD peg deviations and USDC-USDT basis on major spot venues to detect premium/discount shifts (source: Binance and Coinbase tickers via TradingView), 2) Curve 3pool and other stablecoin pool imbalances to gauge swap pressure and potential depeg risk (source: Curve Finance pool dashboard; DeFiLlama stablecoin pool analytics), 3) USDT borrowing rates on Aave and funding rates on perps to spot collateral tightening or stress (source: Aave Analytics; exchange funding rate pages), and 4) stablecoin netflows to and from exchanges for rotation risk between USDT and alternatives like USDC (source: CryptoQuant and Glassnode exchange flow dashboards).

According to @paoloardoino, he addressed S&P regarding its Tether (USDT) rating, stating We wear your loathing with pride and criticizing classical rating models built for legacy financial institutions as having historically led private and institutional investors into investment-grade companies, signaling his disagreement with the methodology applied to stablecoins; source: @paoloardoino on X, Nov 26, 2025. According to @paoloardoino, the post explicitly references S&P’s Tether rating, underscoring Tether’s public dispute with the assessment rather than announcing changes to product structure or reserves; source: @paoloardoino on X, Nov 26, 2025. According to @paoloardoino, no operational updates, reserve disclosures, or redemption policy changes were communicated in the message, indicating the statement is a response to ratings methodology rather than a change in market operations; source: @paoloardoino on X, Nov 26, 2025.