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Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

ag.ny.gov

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Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#271

Post by ordinaryradical »

kragen wrote: post #207
Robotbeat wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has? Bitcoin isn’t an alternative to the existing system for people. It might be a digital alternative to gold for people hedging inflation or in failed states, but its transaction fee is just way too high to be a practical alternative to anything but, like, wire transfers (Visa and ACH are WAY cheaper except for huge transfers... and Bitcoin isn’t particularly fast, either). And this high cost is driven by the fu…

If you live in a country with a highly functional banking system and no kleptocracy, Bitcoin is probably a bit puzzling unless you have family in Cuba. But it's not puzzling at all for those of us who live somewhere in the middle of the broad spectrum between Switzerland and Somalia, because most places have a little kleptocracy. Argentina is far from being "a failed state," but if you want to send US$500 abroad via…

This is the most cogent answer I've seen regarding BTC utility for those living under less stable regimes. Usually it's a hand-wavy "something something Venezuela something," which, as bad as Venezuela is, makes it seem like crypto is only really relevant in exceptional cases of instability.

Thanks for the effort.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#272

Post by dudus »

I've been following Tether for quite a long time. I have no absolute proof it is a scam but the writing is on the wall. Here are some facts.

- The current Market Cap of USDT is 34 Billion Dollars. It was 4B this time last year. Since the value is pegged this means there has been an influx of cash of 30 B into this shady company in the last year alone. Who invested this money? We have no idea since Tether doesn't disclose, but we're supposed to believe all this money entered USDT even with the red flags we see.

- There's a correlation between Tether printing new USDT and the Bitcoin Price.

- There's no way to transfer USDT into USD. The few exchanges that say they offer withdraws actually don't if you go and try.

- Daily volume of transaction is in the 100 B mark. Twice that of Bitcoin and 3 times Tether daily volume this time last year.

- BitFinex is included in the NY decision because it's proven now that Bitfinex and Tether are operated by the same people. Note that a few years ago this was not only undisclosed but actively denied by Tether.

- Tether initially told its investors it was 100% backed by dollar reserves and that it would be subjected to constant audits. The audits never happened, and they eventually conceded only ~70% was backed by "short term cash reserves".

My conclusion is that the folks at BitFinex came up with a new currency, printed billions of it and used it to wash trade against itself and other crypto, creating an artificial demand that drove the prices up. It's textbook Ponzi scheme and will inevitably come crashing down, killing Tether, BitFinex and a chunk of the Crypto Market.

Crypto folks will counter argue that people has been saying this for years but Tether is still chugging along and crypto is healthier than ever.

Personally I won't touch any crypto with a 10 foot pole until this thing blows over. If that means missing out on a lot of possible gains so be it.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#273

Post by ketamine__ »

bronzeage wrote: post #16

I'm waiting patiently for the whole Tether printing scheme to fall and crush to finally purchase Bitcoin / Ether. However I'm not viewing them as inflation hedges so long as Bitfinex / etc. are allowed to continue with their obvious money printing scheme. When most crypto trading volume is traded at trustworthy exchanges which actually hold dollars as much as they say they do, I'll trust $/BTC to be a fair market. It…

Bitcoin is going up because young people want to buy Bitcoin. Most young people are trading (i.e. WSB) and not investing in cryptocurrency. That has a lot to do with price fluctuations. Also taxes, vacations, etc are all funded by cashing out.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#274

Post by sekai »

owenmarshall wrote: post #40
jkhdigital wrote: post #26

Honestly, this is kind of a nothingburger. The press release seems to merely reinforce what was an open secret in the cryptocurrency world, which is that Bitfinex and Tether have played fast and loose with whatever reserves they received for their Tether issuance. Which is, of course, utterly unremarkable to anyone who knows anything about how financial sausage is really made. Bitfinex and Tether are shady. Caveat em…

Considering the meteoric rise of BTC is tied so deeply to Tether issuances, it sounds an awful lot like you’re trying to convince us the emperor really has clothes.

> Considering the meteoric rise of BTC is tied so deeply to Tether issuances

Got evidence for that? Because printing USDT after BTC went up is not a manipulation, but a liquidity boost.

Let's not forget that USDT isn't the only stablecoin in town, it's ratio is actually decreasing, all the way from 3k to 50k.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#275

Post by deanmoriarty »

xur17 wrote: post #252
deanmoriarty wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s your recommendation for least-worse inflation hedge?

It depends on how much downside risk you are okay with taking. If you want something relatively cash like, ibonds are an interesting option - their rate of return is updated to the latest inflation measurement every 6 months. If you are okay taking on some risk, a mix of stocks and bonds seems sensible to me.

I totally buy ibonds, but their 10-15k limit a year is unfortunately a joke. I wish I could buy way more.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#276

Post by sekai »

cool_dude85 wrote: post #239
BelenusMordred wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, certainly can, right here: https://www.kraken.com/prices/usdt-tether-usd-price-chart/us... You can also short it if you are convinced Tether is going to collapse.

Sorry, trading it for a dollar isn't the same as redeeming it for a dollar.

You can easily withdraw USD/EUR you got from trading in USDT.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#277

Post by BenoitEssiambre »

deanmoriarty wrote: post #227
kragen wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US$5M is a bit under 100 kg of gold or 6 tonnes of silver. Might not be a bad idea to spend a few percent of that on hiring security guards and stocking up on perishables to feed them an their families.

This quickly went downhill lol. Thank you for your suggestion, I’ll stick my $5M in VTWAX and hope for the best.

That is probably your best bet for large amounts. You can also diversify into TIPS (note the negative nominal returns though) and improve your housing situation with renos, upgrades etc.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#278

Post by ketamine__ »

bhouston wrote: post #53
lifty wrote: post #46

This news is so funny. Tether detractors see this as confirmation that they were right all along, while crypto currency fans say that this is confirmation that it was FUD all along. No bridges were built in this endeavour.

I like btc but in a declaring that tether is fraud isn’t about building bridges, it is about being correct. Getting rid of tether is the best way to legitimize btc. The sooner the better. It is confusing why you care about bridges with regards to fraud. When was fraud related to consensus building activities? Huh?

Tether isn't decentralized but as it turns out users prefer convenience over ideology. This is pretty apparent from the rise of Binance.

If you want to blame anyone though it's probably the folks that have been working on layer 2 since 2017 but haven't delivered in a major way.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#279

Post by ipsin »

powvans wrote: post #219
devoutsalsa wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm mostly kidding... Buy forever stamps from USPS. As they raise the price of postage, your stamps will go up in value, and then you can sell them for a profit! This is probably a terrible idea, but it makes me giggle. Now I'm imaging some sort of push on r/wallstreetbets to YOLO on stamps, posting insane strategies on how to predict when the price of postage will go up, by how much, and how liquid the market is for…

My wife is a lawyer and she buys a lot of stamps. Recently she stumbled onto some strange stamp firesale on Ebay and bought forever stamps at below face value. I could only guess that this was an unwinding of the trade you propose.

That, or forgeries being laundered... [1] https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/quality-...

For a cash-like instrument, stamps seem to have very little in the way of anti-counterfeiting security.

Re: Bitfinex and Tether required to end all trading activity with New Yorkers

#280

Post by currymj »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #206
deanmoriarty wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s your recommendation for least-worse inflation hedge?

I'm mostly kidding... Buy forever stamps from USPS. As they raise the price of postage, your stamps will go up in value, and then you can sell them for a profit! This is probably a terrible idea, but it makes me giggle. Now I'm imaging some sort of push on r/wallstreetbets to YOLO on stamps, posting insane strategies on how to predict when the price of postage will go up, by how much, and how liquid the market is for…

Back in the roaring '20s Charles Ponzi came up with a way to theoretically make a profit trading postage stamps, and raised a lot of money from investors, although in fact he never actually bought the stamps, and instead invented the Ponzi scheme.
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