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

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

#151

Post by FireBeyond »

ceejayoz wrote: post #86
graeme wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not an audit, an attestation. They check assets at a moment and time.

Yup. Tether pulled the same trick repeatedly, and it was fraudulent. https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-... > Tether published a self-proclaimed ‘verification’ of its cash reserves, in 2017, that it characterized as “a good faith effort on our behalf to provide an interim analysis of our cash position.” In reality, however, the cash ostensibly backing tethers had only been placed in Tether’s…

No, they had an audit, "really truly". And a full audit.

But they could not release it. Because it was in Mandarin!

You can't make this shit up if you tried.

The interview with a Deltec VP after all that also revealed that Deltec is heavily intertwined. He said "we know they're fully backed because we can see the issuance of Tethers in the internal systems and the corresponding deposits".

Like, interesting, your bank has insights into your internal systems? Curious.

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

#152

Post by w4llstr33t »

dogman144 wrote: post #105
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…

If you’re technical, read Mastering Bitcoin and Mastering Ethereum, both for free on GitHub https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook , and https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/ Reason being is that how most of crypto works is a derivative of bitcoin or ethereum. And, it’s fairly normal in a technical sense, just applied in a unique way that needs to be understood via good ref doc. Once you wrap your head around th…

Here's the link for Mastering Ethereum: https://github.com/ethereumbook/ethereumbook

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

#153

Post by ryanobjc »

dalbasal wrote: post #115
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…

>> (on) stories about crypto being inscrutable to those looking in from the outside So... half the reasons are those you mention... subculture. Alien ecosystem, hard to distinguish between geniuses, quacks and con artists, blade runner theme music. The other half is because crypto is an unregulated, start up financial sector . Stories and headlines about the financial sector tend to also look inscrutable those on the…

Gift cards are unregulated banks then?

The difference is banks have fractional reserve banking and stable coins do not.

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

#154

Post by w4llstr33t »

asimpletune wrote: post #103
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…

As far as I’m able to discern, the value prop to investors pouring money into “smart contracts” is just that they’re unregulated.

If they are able to replace real world contracts one day, that could be a benefit, i.e. escrow and title transfer for real estate. They would need to be pretty complex to do so, since currently title companies track local laws and make sure everything is in order, but, stuff like this could automate some things which are done manually now. There also would probably need to be a way to have human intervention, i.e. being able to upgrade or sidestep the contracts, if something doesn't go as expected, but I still think automating this can modernize certain fields.

In my opinion, the process of buying / selling real estate, at least in the US, seems antiquated. There has to be some way to automate this instead of manually having some escrow company hold funds and then manually releasing them once the sale is complete, and issuing the title (gets more complicated if it's a mortgage vs a cash deal, since a bank loan would also be involved, but either way, it is possible). The smart contracts could be coded in a way where the funds are automatically released, and a title issued, once certain criteria are met. One risk is that the smart contracts could be hacked, but over time the code could be become more solid.

It seems that as a whole the world will move more to automation, over time, and smart contracts might play a part in that. That said smart contracts that can't really be stopped could also become Skynet or something (i.e. Terminator), but I don't think fear of that should prevent us from exploring the possibilities. My point is that smart contracts could automate certain things that are done manually now. They might still require some human involvement, but the amount of human involvement required could be dramatically reduced. I don't think the main benefit of smart contracts is just that they are unregulated. I also don't think that the way smart contracts are used today are the only ways they can be used. It is a new field and many things that folks haven't even thought of yet are possible with this type of technology.

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

#155

Post by rfd4sgmk8u »

ceejayoz wrote: post #92
rfd4sgmk8u wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gemini pays 7.4% APY interest on your GUSD/DAI stablecoin holdings. This is better than any bank in the universe.

Would you trust a bank that promised a 7.4% APY savings account, or would you go "hmmmmmm..."? > This is better than any bank in the universe. "If it sounds too good to be true..."

I used to believe this -- "too good to be true", then I played with the tech and realized the folk borrowing the money at a higher rate (of course) were earning 2x that via various defi contracts.

Most of the defi world is a scam, however, stablecoinstablecoin liquidity pools are handling millions of dollars and paying the liquidity providers handsomely at 0.1%. It is then that you understand who exactly is making big money in this space :-)

I'm not saying there is no risk -- indeed, there is considerable risk and no FDIC insurance; BUT, the game is far more complex than looks on the surface.

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

#156

Post by X6S1x6Okd1st »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #141
X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree, however I haven't seen any sources saying that these mint operations were paid for by commerical paper given by Alameda or Cumberland. That's what I suspect and I'll be shorting more USDT today on AAVE.

That's what I suspect and I'll be shorting more USDT today on AAVE. Sorry, I don't see how this can work. USDT is a fraud. Exchanges are active participants in the fraud by pegging USDT at $1. The only way your short can pay off is if the exchanges stop the "pegging" game. When the pegging stops, the exchanges will likely fold up and disappear. Who will you collect from for your short?

The process is:

Deposit ETH on AAVE (this is a DeFi DAPP)

Use this collateral to borrow USDT (~4% APY at current rates)

Trade that USDT for ETH.

If the peg breaks for USDT than I can get USDT for very cheap to pay back the loan and unlock my collateral.

If it doesn't break than I owe ~4% APY for the period that I shorted.

One of the really amazing things about DeFi is that it allows counter-party free financial operations.

Of course that ETH will be worth much less, but long term I am optimistic about ETH.

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

#157

Post by headmelted »

vmception wrote: post #140
headmelted wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“These kind of juvenile inexperienced arguments” I would suggest to you that maybe it’s said from a place of significant experience that the cryptocurrency community simply doesn’t possess at 11 years old. That aside, the notion that your problems as an individual begin and end at your “onramp” (which is a terrible term for it’s own reasons) are incredibly naive. If massive amounts of the value in the market is fake…

I dont care if crypto crashes 90+ Percent because Tether turned out to be highly leveraged. Let it. What do people want to hear? If the issuing organization has no liquidity for its commercial paper or literally non existent assets then people cant redeem their tether. OTC desks using bitfinex as advertised isnt news and has nothing to do with speculating on an opaque reserve issue with Tether. That was my entire poi…

If you don’t care about it crashing 95% or more than I guess it’s moot. Although I don’t know why you’d hold something you expected to lose that much of it’s value.

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

#158

Post by ryanobjc »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #126
vmception wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hmm no OTC traders here? When you call the OTC desk and wire them dollars they mint stablecoins using their account with - presumably - Bitfinex. Bitfinex issues Tethers no different than Coinbase/Circle issues USDC in a just in time transaction. You either receive the Tether you asked for to make your own trades, or they keep the Tether and purchase the crypto you really wanted. In either scenario, someone besides t…

> You either receive the Tether you asked for to make your own trades, or they keep the Tether and purchase the crypto you really wanted. In either scenario, someone besides the OTC has the Tether now. So instead of buying coins directly, people are buying Tether then immediately selling that Tether to… someone? Who apparently is okay holding on to huge quantities of Tether? It’s weird that crypto proponents always a…

Did you know that if you don’t do your transaction by 1pm pacific time you can no longer do business in the us?

Fed wires are only available 8-4 weekdays. Us wires are not very liquid.

Compare contrast with usdt and it’s instant settlement 24/7. So yeah the exchanges prefer it vs tradfi.

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

#159

Post by X6S1x6Okd1st »

cowvin wrote: post #143
X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree, however I haven't seen any sources saying that these mint operations were paid for by commerical paper given by Alameda or Cumberland. That's what I suspect and I'll be shorting more USDT today on AAVE.

Actually, that got me curious. Couldn't a billionaire crush tether by shorting so much of it that it exceeded the cash reserves?

You can play games to short it in DeFi which might break the peg on DeFi systems, however if anyone wants to try and arbitrage the difference (e.g. buy USDT at 0.50 USD, take it to Tether and redeem it for 1 USD) then Tether may just say "here take some of our Commerical Paper instead" or even "No you have broken our ToS".

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

#160

Post by rfd4sgmk8u »

vmception wrote: post #23
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?

Yield farming with stablecoin pairs (ie USDC/USDT liquidity pool shares) has no impermanent loss and high returns, and you are liquid to buy any dips in the crypto market because you can unbundle your liquidity pool share at any time and you just have a bunch of stablecoins and dont even have to wait for custodial exchange withdrawals confirmations So you are better positioned and can act faster on a broader universe…

This -- the returns on stablecoin liquidity provision are beyond expectation, and are totally transparent. You can see the actual interest/rewards in real time from the chain. I think it is far less risky than appears on the surface, but some diligence is required. Don't drop all your capital in sketchy projects started last week.

Given some additional maturity to the markets, I see this as being THE forex markets of the future.

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