21–30 of 92 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ponzi schemes always seem great until the final collapse.
Do you really think the New York Attorney General would have settled with a "ponzi scheme" with a $62 billion market cap? The USA isn't shy about pursuing crypto operators. It's also hard to call a 0% interest, zero return token, a ponzi scheme.
The challenge with Tether is that it's basically impossible to prove or disprove their financial status. They don't have audited books, so no-one knows. So you need to decide whether they're a risk or not. To me, the idea of having what is effectively a bank with a $60b+ balance sheet that has no auditor and no regulators, seems kind of risky. We also know, via the NYAG case, that they have in the past, said things t…
They do not need to have 100% USD at Tether. Exchanges buy UDST from Tether, that means that there is an exchange. It would be problematic if they would give it for free to the exchanges. The exchanges won't give you free USDT either, they charge something in return. The only way this could be a problem if they would use USDT from within Tether to buy crypto. I have not seen any evidence of this.
So to me, that's not a strong signal either way, the operation of Tether and their dealings with exchanges are opaque, you need to take what they say on trust, as there are no external auditors.
The challenge with Tether is that it's basically impossible to prove or disprove their financial status. They don't have audited books, so no-one knows. So you need to decide whether they're a risk or not. To me, the idea of having what is effectively a bank with a $60b+ balance sheet that has no auditor and no regulators, seems kind of risky. We also know, via the NYAG case, that they have in the past, said things t…
Tether actually was forced to release a break down of their assets and they have https://www.coindesk.com/tether-first-reserve-composition-re...
As tether specifies the right to repay any redeemed tokens in securities, assuming the securities they hold actually keep their value, it seems like they'd be fine
From https://tether.to/legal/ "Tether reserves the right to delay the redemption or withdrawal of Tether Tokens if such delay is necessitated by the illiquidity or unavailability or loss of any Reserves held by Tether to back the Tether Tokens, and Tether reserves the right to redeem Tether Tokens by in-kind redemptions of securities and other assets held in the Reserves."
Of course the $60b question is, what are all the non-cash reserves they have, and how much are they worth.
The challenge with Tether is that it's basically impossible to prove or disprove their financial status. They don't have audited books, so no-one knows. So you need to decide whether they're a risk or not. To me, the idea of having what is effectively a bank with a $60b+ balance sheet that has no auditor and no regulators, seems kind of risky. We also know, via the NYAG case, that they have in the past, said things t…
Tether actually was forced to release a break down of their assets and they have https://www.coindesk.com/tether-first-reserve-composition-re...
The answer is not clear to me, but it seems like this is an important value.
Also, aren't some of those assets (like treasury bills) interest-accruing? That would seem to offset some of the losses incurred by a short-term, high-volume liquidation event.
Surly everyone now knows either consciously, or deep in their heart, that Tether is a scam, but just goes along with it because it's a useful way of not paying tax when you want on sell your coins?
People who assume that are in for a rude awakening. The IRS has aggressively been going after records from cryptocurrency exchanges. Now maybe they’re using a DEX or something, but at some point they’re going to have to spend the crypto natively (much of which is now KYCed) or convert to real USD. People who think they’re being clever are trapped.
FYI I'm just going on what I know friends are doing - no skin in the game! Just see this happening and don't see any other reason why anyone would buy Tether.
Tether is "USD-ramp-as-a-service". In the crypto world, there are many anonymously operated exchanges, with no fiat-money banking relationships. Those exchanges tend to offer features that a lot of traders want, like providing a market for any arbitrary token (regulated exchanges tend to be slower with token listings, due to always pondering if something is a security). And yes, if your money is tainted (whether it's…
> No one has ever been scammed by Bitfinex or Ether. There is no monetary loss, ever. Yet. Like all frauds, they succeed until they don't. People thought they made money in Enron, Madoff, etc until it unraveled and there was nothing. > When Bitfinex got hacked a few years ago, they worked out a repayment program, and fully repaid all creditors. Tether is so monumentally different. In fact, Bitfinex repaid creditors w…
As a user, the core business prop of BFX/Tether is that they keep my money, and maintain my ability to use the platform without KYC.
If I want a super-duper legit stablecoin, I'd use USDC. Tether is about bringing stability to the chaos of non-KYC, anonymously-operated exchanges, like the 100x leverage ByBit, or the various smaller no-banking, Tether-only exchanges. And they've done that.
When you place copper (Tether) next to burning trash (balances held on anonymously operated exchanges), the former looks like gold. Sure, it's not as good as actual gold, but that doesn't mean it's a scam.
Bitfinex and Tether has weathered and survived a variety of doomsday scenarios, from Crypto Capital, US seizure of bank accounts, the Bitfinex hack, and the NYAG investigation.
I think you're expecting Bitfinex or Tether to be Coinbase. They're not. If you look between the lines, and look at how Tether is used, the whole point is that you can have safe USD without any AML or KYC.
And since 2014, Bitfinex and Tether has fulfilled that promise despite so many obstacles. For someone trying to move capital out of China for example, Tether considerably is safer than Yuan in an onshore bank account. For people prosecuted by the USA, like the founder of Sci-Hub, Tether is safer than any USD bank account.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tether actually was forced to release a break down of their assets and they have https://www.coindesk.com/tether-first-reserve-composition-re...
All assets liquidated today, what do you think the true value of a Tether is? $.70 USD? The answer is not clear to me, but it seems like this is an important value. Also, aren't some of those assets (like treasury bills) interest-accruing? That would seem to offset some of the losses incurred by a short-term, high-volume liquidation event.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
All assets liquidated today, what do you think the true value of a Tether is? $.70 USD? The answer is not clear to me, but it seems like this is an important value. Also, aren't some of those assets (like treasury bills) interest-accruing? That would seem to offset some of the losses incurred by a short-term, high-volume liquidation event.
In my understanding, part of the issue is that we can't value or risk assess the backing ourselves. This is due to the lack of transparency on whose commercial paper Tether is holding, etc.
The unregulated, debased Tether seems less risky than holding regulated, backed-by-real-property mortgage-backed securities in 2007.
It seems much a-do about not much, to me. But, I guess people need something to worry about.
They do not need to have 100% USD at Tether. Exchanges buy UDST from Tether, that means that there is an exchange. It would be problematic if they would give it for free to the exchanges. The exchanges won't give you free USDT either, they charge something in return. The only way this could be a problem if they would use USDT from within Tether to buy crypto. I have not seen any evidence of this.
Ideally, it would be easy and high trust to go from Tether to USD and back. This requires high confidence that the various backings of Tether are low risk, which we cannot establish given the minimal information Tether has provided.