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Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

protos.com

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Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#51

Post by ceejayoz »

backprop1993 wrote: post #40
throwup2021 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an individual trader running an algorithmic arbitrage operation at > 40 exchanges, I have to. You can count me in for USDT 56k. I am small fish. My algorithms constantly watch USDT/USD price at 3 exchanges which are independent from Tether Inc, and if USDT drops below $0.95 at one of them, they stop issuing orders selling to USDT.

Are you saying that the exchanges are forcing a $1 +/- 0.05 price range for Tether instead of letting it float freely? Interesting.

No, they're saying their personal USDT trading strategy involves a cessation of activity if Tether breaks the $1 peg, as it probably indicates trouble requiring human intervention.

Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#52

Post by turminal »

Spivak wrote: post #43
jqpabc123 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't end there. Slightly less obvious is the fact that Tether and other "Stable coins" are the only "stability" that exists in the crypto marketplace. More than half of all crypto trades involve stable coins. And exchanges play along (wittingly or not) with the ruse for their own benefit. So if Tether is a scam, so is bitcoin and the entire crypto marketplace.

Look, Tether might be a scam in the sense that they don't actually have the backing assets they claim but that doesn't invalidate the rest of the market or the trades done with them any more than your bank having They are absolutely running afoul of banking regulations but that's not exactly catastrophic for the whole market. Unless there's a bank run the only thing Tether actually needs to do is keep the trading val…

> Tether might be a scam in the sense that they don't actually have the backing assets they claim

Tether is a scam on a whole other level than this

Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#53

Post by JofArnold »

ctur wrote: post #29

I often find the headlines, and even stories about, crypto to be inscrutable to those looking in from the outside. The stories also seem to come from an ecosystem of sites I don't recognize so it's hard to even judge if it's reputable site (or at least guess at the biases it might have). None of this is inherently bad, but there seems to be a growing divide between "mainstream" tech and the crypto world that is harde…

I've recently started listening to a lot of podcast episodes on the subject (primarily Unchained and a16z) which has been great for raising my general awareness of what's going on.

I'm very skeptical of 90% of what I hear and I've limited interest getting involved in the industry right now but crypto is hugely impactful no matter how you look at it so it's worth keeping a decent amount of curiosity in my opinion.

---

Edit: because I explicitly called out two podcasts, I should make it clear I listen to them knowing full well the hosts and the guests often have an agenda (which much of the time amounts to pumping their own investments). That's true of many types of promotion of course but especially true in this space and especially true of a16z. But the subject matter can still be very interesting.

Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#54

Post by Spivak »

peytn wrote: post #48
Spivak wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, Tether might be a scam in the sense that they don't actually have the backing assets they claim but that doesn't invalidate the rest of the market or the trades done with them any more than your bank having They are absolutely running afoul of banking regulations but that's not exactly catastrophic for the whole market. Unless there's a bank run the only thing Tether actually needs to do is keep the trading val…

My bank isn’t wash trading its reserves to drive a speculative bubble…

And neither should Tether. If any meatspace bank was found to be doing that they would be raked over the coals by the SEC but it doesn't make people trading in USD suddenly worthless.

Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#55

Post by Fiahil »

NickM wrote: post #3

There are a lot of areas of crypto where I feel like I have a pretty good understanding, but I genuinely don't understand why anyone would "invest" in a stablecoin. What advantage does holding something like USDT offer over simply putting dollars in a bank account?

DAI offers some ~2% APY on coinbase, that's much more than my saving account!

Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#56

Post by crazydoggers »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #37
crazydoggers wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Based on the information Protos has gathered, Cumberland is apparently the number one liquidity provider in crypto, period — thanks to Tether. Not saying there’s nothing nefarious occurring, but it also doesn’t scream scam. The whole point of Tether is to supply liquidity to the crypto market. So is it surprising firms specializing in it utilize an outsized share?? The thing is tether is pegged. It’s not like if yo…

The thing is tether is pegged. I think the point you're missing here is that there is no logical basis for the "pegging". It's pegged because crypto exchanges play along with the pegging fantasy.

Well it’s supposed to be pegged to the dollar by maintaining USD deposits. Nothing here or that I’ve yet seen indicated that hasn’t been happening.

Banks are worse anyway, all banks function on fractional reserve, but we don’t immediately call them scams.

Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#57

Post by tcbawo »

crazydoggers wrote: post #31
rubyist5eva wrote: post #13

If it wasn't obvious from the get go that Tether was a scam, what more do you need.

> Based on the information Protos has gathered, Cumberland is apparently the number one liquidity provider in crypto, period — thanks to Tether. Not saying there’s nothing nefarious occurring, but it also doesn’t scream scam. The whole point of Tether is to supply liquidity to the crypto market. So is it surprising firms specializing in it utilize an outsized share?? The thing is tether is pegged. It’s not like if yo…

I can also imagine it being used to circumvent currency controls, especially in and around Asia.

Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#58

Post by themagician »

crazydoggers wrote: post #31
rubyist5eva wrote: post #13

If it wasn't obvious from the get go that Tether was a scam, what more do you need.

> Based on the information Protos has gathered, Cumberland is apparently the number one liquidity provider in crypto, period — thanks to Tether. Not saying there’s nothing nefarious occurring, but it also doesn’t scream scam. The whole point of Tether is to supply liquidity to the crypto market. So is it surprising firms specializing in it utilize an outsized share?? The thing is tether is pegged. It’s not like if yo…

The point of Tether is to make money—for Tether, not you. They are getting rich when you buy a million dollars worth.

Re: Tether minted most USDT to just 2 firms – Alameda and Cumberland

#59

Post by crazydoggers »

tcbawo wrote: post #57
crazydoggers wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Based on the information Protos has gathered, Cumberland is apparently the number one liquidity provider in crypto, period — thanks to Tether. Not saying there’s nothing nefarious occurring, but it also doesn’t scream scam. The whole point of Tether is to supply liquidity to the crypto market. So is it surprising firms specializing in it utilize an outsized share?? The thing is tether is pegged. It’s not like if yo…

I can also imagine it being used to circumvent currency controls, especially in and around Asia.

Yes, I’d say it probably is. That may not be a bad thing for many people depending on your outlook.
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