Live data from Hacker News

Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

markets.businessinsider.com

271–280 of 309 posts

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is, what utility? Thanks for the usual collection of talking points from 2017 that nobody uses in the real world. There is no utility to these blockchain tokens except to scam others.

he already specified it in is his comment: > In the case of USDC it allows USD to exist on the blockchain so that it can interact with smart contracts. if you wanna question whether smart contracts are useful or not feel free, I sure do, but drop the smarminess when the answer to your question lies within the first paragraph.

Yes, strangely enough, that is exactly what I’m questioning!

They are a terrible idea whose time came and went around 2017.

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FTX international was not regulated and Tether is debt backed. So no it's not like either of those things.

Binance is regulated where exactly? Can you please point me to the jurisdiction where it's offices are located, so I can instruct my lawyers to send them some papers? Just asking in case something happens in the future.

BUSD is not a Binance product, it is a Paxos product [0] regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Binance merely pays to have their name on it.

[1] Here is the specific NYDFS guidance on Paxos' issuance of stablecoins. [2] And here is a link to their NYDFS appointed third-party auditory accounting firm.

Complaints against Paxos can be filed with the New York State Department of Financial Services at:

One State Street

New York, NY 10004

---

OR with Paxos directly at

450 Lexington Ave

Suite 3952

New York, NY 10163

---

[0] https://paxos.com/busd/

[1] https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/industry_letters/il...

[2] https://www.withum.com/

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SWIFT does not take 2 months; it takes minutes or hours. Your bank already has your money or it never received it. More likely, they are holding your money due to some issues with your local KYC laws. (This is especially likely in South America, where foreign senders must verify the source and purpose of payments made to local residents.)

Sometimes wire transfers mysteriously fail for no reason, in particular between US and EU banks. I've had this issue with being paid before, nobody could tell me why the transaction would mysteriously fail.

Agreed, but in this case the OP says that the bank acknowledges receiving the money, and simply won't release it to his account.

That means KYC or source-of-income laws are applying (I don't know what country OP is in so I can't say which).

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#274
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is akin to asking why commodity futures exist. It's an abstraction that provides utility. In the case of commodity futures, it allows commodities to be traded on an exchange where bags of onion seeds would otherwise be difficult to trade. In the case of USDC it allows USD to exist on the blockchain so that it can interact with smart contracts. Believe it or not, if you want to invest in gold, the only option isn…

The question is, what utility? Thanks for the usual collection of talking points from 2017 that nobody uses in the real world. There is no utility to these blockchain tokens except to scam others.

Americans that frequently need to transfer money (especially overseas) may find stablecoins a good way to effect that without bank fees and delays.

Other countries may not even be allowed to transfer from their bank overseas (I think China in most cases). Some countries have local currency that is devaluating, and banks that are less reliable than a mattress. Some countries have restrictions on the way that money can be stored or retrieved that basically mean that money deposited in the bank can not practically be withdrawn.

For some, the stablecoin is simply a more convenient bank that the one in the city, and in many cases they anyways don't have reportable income.

Other reasons exists for a stablecoin besides criminal activity, especially for people that live in poorer states - and these people are harder hit by losing their cash than would be someone who is in crypto for the ride. It is disingenuous to think its all crypto kiddies.

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#275
USDN is unpegged and below $0.70 [1] I don't believe they have a chance of recovery.

USDD dipped under $0.97 (the "official peg") both yesterday and today [2]. The reserves are being poured in to keep it propped up till confidence returns. Hmmmmm...

UST (Luna/Terra) is, as is well known, finally stable ;)

In the famous thread that brought down FTX, CZ accused SBF of trying to crash Tether with a paltry $250M. While I don't see how that could be, CZ knows much more than me about what is really propping up Tether, and that is a scary thought.

And now Circle is under pressure. OK, they are big, and somewhat audited, so they probably can hold up unless a LOT of customers wanted out.

Of course, if any of these exchanges or stablecoins were honest, they would have 100% of customer's funds available or close to available, and a run wouldn't be a risk. But, let's not kid ourselves - No one in this space is honest.

I can totally imagine a crash of USDN leading to a run and crash of USDD, than a bigger run on Binance and Tether. I wonder which of those two has a larger hole?

I also wonder whether a crash of a $20bn fund could cause less scrutiny on SBF? And what would happen to BTC without Tether's magical beans to prop it up?

[1]: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/neutrino-usd/ [2]: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/usdd/

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Binance is regulated where exactly? Can you please point me to the jurisdiction where it's offices are located, so I can instruct my lawyers to send them some papers? Just asking in case something happens in the future.

BUSD is not a Binance product, it is a Paxos product [0] regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Binance merely pays to have their name on it. [1] Here is the specific NYDFS guidance on Paxos' issuance of stablecoins. [2] And here is a link to their NYDFS appointed third-party auditory accounting firm. Complaints against Paxos can be filed with the New York State Department of Financial Serv…

So in an eventual future where BINANCE stops allowing people to withdraw their BUSD, I can go to Paxos door and complain about it? Will my clown USD be returned to me?

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For US citizens perhaps, but if you're a Russian citizen or company, the USD in your bank account is now just a worthless database entry. Just because that weapon hasn't been pointed at some group of US citizens yet doesn't mean it can't in the future.

Maybe, maybe not. In the meanwhile SBF and similar figures are happy to protect your money in crypto assets.

Not your keys, not your coins. Those not willing to learn self-custody are definitely better off in USD.

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still refers to the present. You are referring to a hypothetical future.

That hypothetical is reality. And sometime today, tomorrow or 10 years from now it’s gonna finally collapse. Crypto was and always will be a giant scam.

Sure, it’s a scam. But the pegs are easily observed to be holding at the moment. There is no doubt about this. One’s beliefs need not detract from basic reading comprehension.

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

he already specified it in is his comment: > In the case of USDC it allows USD to exist on the blockchain so that it can interact with smart contracts. if you wanna question whether smart contracts are useful or not feel free, I sure do, but drop the smarminess when the answer to your question lies within the first paragraph.

Yes, strangely enough, that is exactly what I’m questioning! They are a terrible idea whose time came and went around 2017.

You are not really questioning, as that would imply you are interested in and/or listening to answers.

It’s more accurate to say that you are “proclaiming”, which is perfectly fine, but doesn’t make for great conversation

Re: Binance freezes withdrawals of stablecoin USDC as investors pull $2B

#280

USDC withdrawals have been enabled again, but I don't suppose that's HN front-page worthy as much as the panic inducing titles. https://twitter.com/binance/status/1602708590271385600?s=20&...

Yes, suprisingly people seem to react negatively to being frozen out of withdrawing their cash and those events are newsworthy?
Post reply on HN