So, is the Bitfinex BTC/USD market now a USD or USDT market? The price premium compared to other exchanges indicates it's a BTC/USDT market yet it's called BTC/USD. Has anyone sold BTC on bitfinex? Do you get USDT or USD?
Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
31–40 of 54 posts
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Tether still backs the USDT 1:1 by fiat while Bitfinex just becomes another trading market We don't have any evidence Tether has hard currency backing its Tether. We do know Tether and Bitfinex are under investigation in multiple jurisdictions, and that brokerage deposits are less protected than obligations marketed as being freely redeemable or secured (as Tether was). At the end of the day, Bitfinex and Tether ar…
> We don't have any evidence Tether has hard currency backing its Tether. We have some evidence: The CFTC subpoena was about a year ago, and it is hard to imagine that they would not have 1. Subpoenaed bank statements to support the backing, and 2. Let tether continue operation if the support was lacking. So it's possible that the CFTC was snookered somehow, but they're not known for being patsies when it comes to ob…
Tether is Hong Kong based and as far as I can tell they don't have any people or infrastructure in the USA so it's going to take much longer for the CFTC to actually do anything here.
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#33Tether just opened up a platform for withdrawing fiat USD directly from them: https://tether.to/tether-reopens-account-verification-and-di... > This update allows the immediate withdrawal of Tether to fiat (1:1), with the ability to acquire coming soon. So Tether still backs the USDT 1:1 by fiat while Bitfinex just becomes another trading market. Other exchanges already have USDT markets that change in value. This ev…
madoff allowed withdrawals too
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know what you mean by this -- depositing USDT into Bitfinex has always immediately credited your USD balance. Until this announcement, they have always treated USDT as simply a method for depositing USD, with no explicit conversion necessary. What I mean by "support" is that before the cutoff (at 14:30 UTC on 2018-11-27, four and a half hours from now) any USDT deposits will be credited to the USD account bal…
> depositing USDT into Bitfinex has always immediately credited your USD balance This doesn't mean anything if that U.S. dollar balance cannot be redeemed for actual U.S. dollars. Saying "I have 1 USDT" or "I have 1 U.S. dollar on deposit at Bitfinex" is roughly equivalent--both depend on Bitfinex honoring its end of the deal.
Of course the same is true for any bank or bank-like entity, all the way up the chain to the Federal Reserve.
I don't know a lot about Bitfinex, but it seems that the relevant questions are:
1) If you have "X U.S. dollars on deposit at Bitfinex", how easy is it to transfer that balance to an external account? (Maybe possible with a fee?)
2) Can you withdraw the balance in person directly for USD cash? (lol)
3) Does the federal government offer any type of legal guarantee/protection/insurance for the balance? (Hahahahah)
If anyone knows the answers to these, I'm genuinely curious.
Edit: I somehow missed the first part of your post that established the context as NOT being able to redeem the balance for USD. Obviously the ability to redeem your balance on demand for cash is pretty much the defining characteristic of a (solvent) bank, as opposed to say your friend Bob owing you money.
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#35Can someone explain why this is important?
Bitfinex is the same operation as Tether (commingled ownership and common control). Tether’s product is the eponymous “stablecoin” which promises that each USDT is backed by $1 USD sitting in a bank account and available for withdraw on demand. This promise is a lie. This announcement walks back the lie. This is very important for the cryptocurrency ecosystem, because Bitfinex is a large exchange, liquidity provider,…
https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1051560132235030528
> Tether ... is currently in the early stages of a bank run.
Still think that's true?
As for this news, as long as they're honoring withdrawals, it's a good thing. Before, tether was relying on bitfinex to convert to usd.
https://tether.to/tether-reopens-account-verification-and-di...
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#36[deleted]
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#37I find it curious that there isn't any analysis suspecting the BTC crash to the breaking of the USDT peg. It started a couple weeks ago and now USDT is routinely trading at a discount relative to $1.
There were a ton of articles in 2017 speculating that the bubble was being directly inflated by USDT printing and when the peg broke BTC would crash[0]. Now that those things have happened - silence.
[0]: http://fortune.com/2017/12/05/bitcoin-btc-price-usd-tether-l...
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
No- the market will buy and sell Tether at the market-discovered price- which means it's no longer centrally "pegged" by Bitfinex. This could be because they want to better take advantage of the difference in price themselves, knowing that their books are good and that the token is backed- or, following the narrative, it's because the token isn't 1:1 backed. Either way, this further erodes trust in Tether
No they're making easier to withdraw USDT to fiat, minus a 0.4%-1% fee. All indications are that they do in fact have $2B in cash on hand to back the USDT in circulation: https://tether.to/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Tether-Letter.p...
Yes, BTC and other crypto are down 80-90% in a matter of weeks, but this is Bitfinex making it "easier" to withdraw your money. Are you gullible or trying to deceive others to save yourself?
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#39I find it curious that there isn't any analysis suspecting the BTC crash to the breaking of the USDT peg. It started a couple weeks ago and now USDT is routinely trading at a discount relative to $1. There were a ton of articles in 2017 speculating that the bubble was being directly inflated by USDT printing and when the peg broke BTC would crash[0]. Now that those things have happened - silence. [0]: http://fortune.…
Silence? No analysis? Prices on every crypto are down massively. This news is hours fresh. What are you talking about? What are your expectations here? Was this not a crash?
Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
> depositing USDT into Bitfinex has always immediately credited your USD balance This doesn't mean anything if that U.S. dollar balance cannot be redeemed for actual U.S. dollars. Saying "I have 1 USDT" or "I have 1 U.S. dollar on deposit at Bitfinex" is roughly equivalent--both depend on Bitfinex honoring its end of the deal.
Of course the same is true for any bank or bank-like entity, all the way up the chain to the Federal Reserve. I don't know a lot about Bitfinex, but it seems that the relevant questions are: 1) If you have "X U.S. dollars on deposit at Bitfinex", how easy is it to transfer that balance to an external account? (Maybe possible with a fee?) 2) Can you withdraw the balance in person directly for USD cash? (lol) 3) Does t…
1) Until that announcement: impossible for regular people, and maybe possible for big enough customers agreeing to go through many hoops like dealing with a bank in Uganda (from what I've heard, not sure if even that was possible).
2) Of course not.
3) Which federal government are you thinking about? I think Bitfinex is a Hong Kong entity, and Hong Kong is not a federation (it's a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China), so doesn't have a federal government.