Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and other meme coins have been in the spotlight this year as they soared to sky-high levels, but there is a cryptocurrency that wants to take the meme hoopla and raise it to the nth level. Meet Tetherino, a project that takes a dig at stablecoins and in particular Tether (CRYPTO: USDT), which it calls its “step-brother.”

See Also: Best Stablecoins 

Commercial Toilet Paper: “We hoped the Dogecoin mania would be the end of crypto, by exposing how ridiculous crypto valuations are. But we were wrong,” Tetherino Chief Technology Officer, who goes by the pseuodnym Paolino Ardoino, told Benzinga on motivation behind the “commercial toilet paper” inspired project and its coin TTR.  

Image: How Tetherino Describes Itself On Its Website, With "Pumping The Markets" As A Stated Goal

“So we decided to create the most ridiculous cryptocurrency that could exist, and make it successful in terms of liquidity, adoption, and market cap, to do the job that Dogecoin failed to accomplish.”

So while Tetherino is not inspired by Dogecoin, it certainly wants to outshine it as a joke cryptocurrency. Ardoino revealed that the project was inspired by Tether itself and pointed to the stablecoin’s “commercial paper” backing that led to Tetherino opting for “commercial toilet paper.”

Ardoino argued that Tetherino’s backing is “more real and valuable” than Tether’s. 

“The impossibility to redeem stablecoins led us to introduce an actual "redemption" feature for Tetherinos, where you can receive actual (commercial) toilet paper rolls by sending back tetherinos to our Treasury account.”

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Another inspiration for Tetherino was XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and their liquidity provider claims, as per Ardoino. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) “comedy gold” is an inspiration for Tetherino’s memes and image. 

Image: A quote from Warrenino Buffetino, an "early backer" of Tetherino.

Why Aim At Tether? On why Tetherino is training its guns at Tether and other stablecoins with its parody, Ardoino told Benzinga that “the roots of Tether run very deep in the whole cryptocurrency ecosystem."

"Its parent company, iFinex, also owns the exchange Bitfinex, and has a stake in Blockstream, where most of Bitcoin Core dev team originates from.”

“The bull market that started in March 2020 coïncided with Binance’s decision to accept Tether as collateral for leveraged trading. The [circumstantial] evidence that Tether, and the team behind it, are at the core of the crypto ecosystem and market, is overwhelming,” explained Ardoino.

The Tetherino CTO decried Tether’s alleged lack of credibility. He said, “They are a joke to whoever has any real experience in finance and banking.” 

See Also: Tether (USDT) And Binance Coin (BNB) Are Likely Targets For SEC Lawsuit, Says Crypto Legal Expert

“They have no proper reporting standards, don’t comply to any accounting standards, have no oversight, no funds segregation procedures. They just make stuff up as they go. Yet nobody dares question them, probably because they are so deeply rooted in the crypto ecosystem. We believe that Tether going bust would be a disaster to the crypto markets,” decried Ardoino.

Image: Quote from Elonoino Mosquito, also an "early backer" of Tetherino.

On Pump And Dump: Ardoino blames an institutional “blank confidence check” as the ailment plaguing the cryptocurrency ecosystem. On Tether, he claimed, “They can buy print USDT to buy and pump up Bitcoin, and then unload Bitcoin on cash exchanges.”

Ardoino conceded that pumps and dumps exist in all markets when asked about the manipulative scheme in the wider context. However, he pointed that the difference is in oversight, transparency, and incentives such as the rule of law. 

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“The Federal Reserve, for instance, has 'financial stability' as one of its mandates,” said Ardoino — adding, “Mr Powell, the chairman of the Fed, for instance, couldn’t manipulate the S&P500 by printing himself a trillion dollars and buying stocks to pump them up and dump them on retail investors, cashing in the profits. Tether absolutely could. That’s the big problem.”

Community, Not Coins: Tetherino’s mission is to spread awareness concerning problems inherent to the cryptocurrency ecosystem, revealed Ardoino. In that respect, the community surrounding the project is more valuable than the token.

“We need the community for creativity, insights, and of course, memes,” said Ardoino. 

“If one day the Tetherino token reaches a billion USD in market cap, that’s a fact you just couldn’t ignore and brush away - people would have to talk about it, which would in turn attract the wider audience’s attention to our message,” explained Ardoino.

Read Next: Dogecoin A 'Victim Of Pump And Dump Scheme' By Elon Musk, Says Analyst

Cover photo by Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay from Pixabay