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Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#11

[flagged]

would love to read more if you have a link [edit: re CIA connection]

Google USD digital currency and you’ll see all the usual media outlets propagating the idea in concept to normalize it

Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#12
post #2

Each disabled token is pure profit to Tether. They're not cashing them out to the US Treasury, as with Bitcoins recovered from criminal operations.

Neither of those statements is true. Bitcoin seized by US government is often sold off in auctions[1]. Tether seized by the government could also be redeemed for fiat eventually, following due process.

[1] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonkochkodin/2023/03/31/us-...

EDIT: I see now that you were actually comparing the case of USDT freeze against Bitcoin seizures. Nevertheless, Tether doesn't simply get to keep the USD value of the frozen tokens. US government would want to recover that.

Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#13
post #12
post #2

Each disabled token is pure profit to Tether. They're not cashing them out to the US Treasury, as with Bitcoins recovered from criminal operations.

Neither of those statements is true. Bitcoin seized by US government is often sold off in auctions[1]. Tether seized by the government could also be redeemed for fiat eventually, following due process. [1] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonkochkodin/2023/03/31/us-... EDIT: I see now that you were actually comparing the case of USDT freeze against Bitcoin seizures. Nevertheless, Tether doesn't simply get to keep t…

"disable its tokens" "freezing 326 wallets" no indication from this article that the tether has been seized / transferred

Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#14

That might explain why it has not crashed completely yet. As a rule of thumb, never trust service providers that should, by all common sense, fail, but miraculously don't.

For me the test is: What unethical action would optimize profits for company X? And what is the control mechanism that prevents them from doing so? If the answer to question 2 is None, there's a good possibility the answer to 1 is already happening.

Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#15

[flagged]

The letter reported here specifically mentions the FBI and doesn't mention the CIA. The press doesn't mention the CIA because it isn't in the letter the article is about. https://assets.ctfassets.net/vyse88cgwfbl/6KDtp7U4IcH03zPWnp...

Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#16
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither of those statements is true. Bitcoin seized by US government is often sold off in auctions[1]. Tether seized by the government could also be redeemed for fiat eventually, following due process. [1] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonkochkodin/2023/03/31/us-... EDIT: I see now that you were actually comparing the case of USDT freeze against Bitcoin seizures. Nevertheless, Tether doesn't simply get to keep t…

"disable its tokens" "freezing 326 wallets" no indication from this article that the tether has been seized / transferred

Tokens are frozen "in-place" pending investigation. It differs from how it works with btc, because the government does not have control of the private keys that manage the addresses in question - so they go to Tether who controls the smart contract that manages the transactions of the tokens.

This, in practice, means that the US government controls the mentioned tokens for the moment. What happens with them depends entirely on the outcome of the investigation.

Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#18

That might explain why it has not crashed completely yet. As a rule of thumb, never trust service providers that should, by all common sense, fail, but miraculously don't.

The thing is, a lot of people just assume they must simply be doing good business. The continued existence of the economically impossible entity is, to many, proof not only of its solvency, but also of it's quality as a financial partner.

Most people don't look any further than that. Obviously, a large number do look further than that, and many, many people would never take the bait. But don't underestimate the number of people, even well resourced people, who would fall for this sort of scheme.

Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#19

That might explain why it has not crashed completely yet. As a rule of thumb, never trust service providers that should, by all common sense, fail, but miraculously don't.

This totally explains it. Tether should have been on the same court as FTX.

Re: Tether reveals partnerships with Secret Service, FBI in letter to U.S. Senate

#20

That might explain why it has not crashed completely yet. As a rule of thumb, never trust service providers that should, by all common sense, fail, but miraculously don't.

This totally explains it. Tether should have been on the same court as FTX.

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