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Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

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Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#261
post #243
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I were running it as a 100% legal/safe operation I'd invest the balance in short term treasuries. If you multiply tether's liabilities ($61.9B) by the current 1 year treasury rate (0.09%), you get $55.7M, which seems like plenty of money to run such an operation.

Why has nobody done this in a legit/safe way yet? How hard is it to create the equivalent of Tether with 100% independent auditors from the start that verify the coins are backed by real fiat?

USD Coin is that. Coinbase and Circle is behind it. 24 billion is issued so far (compared to 61B for Tether).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USD_Coin

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a settlement for fraud under the Martin act. Fraud was the charge settled.

Fine, a criminal fraud case. Nobody went to jail.

do you have any reasonable justification to move the goalposts like that?

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#263
What I don't understand is why major exchanges continue to give tether their customers money when it's not backed by cash?

Would an exchange not be incentivised to manage the cash themselves and significantly reduce risk for their customers and business? It seems like huge risk for what looks like a minor convenience.

Also, very good video on the history and current state of tether:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-whuXHSL1Pg

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#264
post #217
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So in my estimation, it probably is a scam... It IS a scam and it is backed by nothing. Only to pump the BTC price artificially. The unveiling of this scam was seen and covered a mile away and was a long time coming. To Downvoters: I'm sorry BTC maximalists, but this scandal was waiting to be cracked down and no, it is not FUD, or whatever denial spiral you are going through. Just read: https://twitter.com/smdiehl/…

Whilst crypto maximalists can be annoying, there's also anti-crypto maximalists such as the source you're linking to. It is legitimate to raise the Tether concern yet he confidently drops into very binary conclusions driven by his pure hate for crypto. For example, his claim that it's 100% a scam whilst this fact isn't established. Or calling any trade in crypto "shady". This one shows his true colors. A huge amount…

they're just called minimalists, vs. anti-maximalists, and announcing what someone who isn't you hates is a pretty unconvincing way of making your case, unless they've also announced that they "hate" it

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling it innovation seems pretty naive. - defi: images hosted on url's that can disappear - eth sites: exists since 1970? - eth auth: a step back, lose keys, lose account. No recovery possible. ... Can you say what exactly was "innovated"?

Sure - some problems being solved right now: What problems does DeFi solve? There are a few straightforward ones when looking at financial systems - Inefficiency - Banks and financial institutions spend billions on opex (ex. BoA spent $53 billion on SG&A and occupancy/equipment in 2020). Well written protocols and decentralized trust can increase efficiency and collapse this number Permissioned access - For better or…

But they don't really solve any of that.

That are inefficient too, slow and costly. 51% was possible from China anytime until they banned it. Insane workarounds are proposed for easy problems.

Instead of the SEC, some sharks/influencers are ruling the markets. Not a week goes bye without a new hack or malicious ownership of the cloud solution or an on purpose malicious contract or extreme scams ( eg. Tether, USDT, ...). Within a second, all their money is away.

People just hide money with currencies that hide their money trail.

The nr. 1 problem for access to banks is internet access, look at El Salvador. They are suddenly creating internet access that hasn't been there before, creating a fake dogma. They had access to banks, it was just a long drive away. Transferwise could reduce transfer costs, but a big problem is also a faulty governement or eg. In case of Libanon: stable electricity. Crypto doesn't solve any of that.

In the end, it's all about the hype and a lot of the end-users don't understand how it works and aren't protected from their own stupidity.

Which is exactly where eg. Opex helps.

Ps. Copy pasting your answer without a minor edit even just shows how mindless this thing has become.

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or more likely tether isn’t backed by anything at all. The auditor they hired quit before completing their audit. Seems legit to me. These dudes are a complete scam but as long as BTC goes to the moon nobody seems to care.

Most bank notes aren't "backed by anything". Reserve requirements are now zero for banks. Source: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/reservereq.htm

You have to pay the taxman on April 15. He’s going to want US dollars. If you don’t pay up, the men with guns come.

That’s “backing” more real than shiny yellow metal.

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some countries have accepted BTC as legal tender. It's only a matter of time really. Why?

There are real precedents now, I have no doubt others will follow. Cryptocurrencies are real currencies, there's no reason not to accept them as such.

Non-blockchain fiats are significantly less energy intensive than DeFi, their reversibility is a feature (IMO), and KYC regulations are needed to resist corruption and funding crime. So what compelling advantages does DeFi offer besides pseudo-anonymity and temporarily sidestepping hyperinflation?

Considering the shaky fundamentals, I'd rather not trust greedy strangers to stop burning the world down trying to get rich quick.

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#268
post #12

Some smart crypto people are saying that if Tether goes down it will take a whole load of other crypto down with it.

Most serious crypto traders purport that the risks of Tether are already “priced in”: https://twitter.com/raoulgmi/status/1408921296281407488?s=21

Where are you getting that figure of most from?

Your own link to one dude doesn't even make that claim

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does that mean that if Amazon [1], Paypal [2], Square [2], and Visa [3] start accepting Bitcoin, it's now backed by the U.S. economy? [1] https://gizmodo.com/amazon-to-accept-bitcoin-by-end-of-2021-... [2] https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-goes-mainstream-as-... [3] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/07/visa-says-crypto-linked-card...

Once I can pay my taxes in Bitcoin will be the day that it's backed by the US Economy. I've helped friends move in exchange for beer and pizza but nobody would call that a transaction "backed by the US Economy".

Taxes are not part of Economy, taxes are extortion of accumulated value from the Economy backed by a monopoly on the ultimate physical coercion. Your voluntary exchange of values with your friends is the actual Economy you're looking for.

Re: Tether executives said to face criminal probe into bank fraud

#270
post #69

What if Tether the company just throws in the towel? Take the reserves and run? What incentive do they have not too?

Jail or death. They’re rumoured to be heavily involved with drug cartels for money laundering. But jail is a near certain outcome if they just took the money and ran off. So they’re stuck with it. Once it implodes they’ll also face jail, but they can kick the can down the road.

With this much money at play, being incarcerated for even a brief period of time can easily end up being a death sentence
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