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

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

#81

Post by engineer_22 »

wolverine876 wrote: post #30
Animats wrote: 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.

It's an interesting question: What does that mean? Maybe it's better to look at cryptocurrencies as financial securities, shares in an asset controlled by a private company (as has been said many times before). Could General Electric 'disable' the shares of a shareholder? What would that mean? The shareholder can't sell their shares, I suppose, but GE's equity would remain the same (not counting any market movement t…

-> Software to help landlords collude, take housing off the market, and jack up rents?

You're being facetious right?

A suit last month alleges just that .

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/14-big-landlords...

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

#82

Post by xtracto »

Podgajski wrote: post #68
agentgumshoe wrote: post #64

So... Half the appeal of crypto and Tether & co has been a separation from the current financial system and 'deep state,' yet here we are embracing both with hugs. The cryptoverse is no place for making sense.

“Fascist governments encouraged the pursuit of private profit and offered many benefits to large businesses, but they demanded in return that all economic activity should serve the national interest.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_fascism

Pax Americana

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

#83

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

hanniabu wrote: post #66
agentgumshoe wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tether has not completed a single audit yet

https://tether.to/en/transparency/#reports

These reports are not full audits, although Tether would certainly like us to think they are! If you click into one of the reports, the auditors list the steps they took, and they're focused almost entirely on verifying the existence of Tether's self-reported assets on the report date. They would not, for example, have uncovered an FTX-style "hidden, poorly internally labeled fiat@ account" by following these procedures.

You'll also note that they're following the "International Standard on Assurance Engagements 300 (Revised) ~ Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information", which heavily suggests that this is not an audit and they did not review historical financial information.

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

#84

Post by Incipient »

agentgumshoe wrote: post #60
s1artibartfast wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps "the opportunity to address the concerns" is in contrast to being shut down with no opportunity for corrective action. Kinda like someone released on parole is happy for an opportunity to work and obey the law.

Still not a partnership. Tether spin.

Of course it's spin. What else could they say? "we keep having to respond to your damn emails"?

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

#85

Post by redcobra762 »

RustyRussell wrote: post #69
redcobra762 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point, let’s presume literally all of crypto is actively doing all of our worst fears, and not bother with a pesky thing like proof.

Except we know of occasions they printed tether in return for collateral promises, rather than actually for cash. Not to mention filling a hole with Bitfinex stock when one of their processors got raided. Now, it's just a question of degree: they're so profitable they can recover from being fractional rapidly. OTOH, why mess with a working formula?

Do we “know” that? We have evidence for it, but there’s more uncertainty than you’re letting on.

To be clear, I have zero financial interest in any crypto, I just think it’s premature to assume the worst just because of the industry.

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

#86

Post by duskwuff »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #65
agentgumshoe wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still not a partnership. Tether spin.

obviously spin, but "partnership" doesn't bother me much. Partnership doesnt mean equal partners. Someone might have a business "partnership" with a warlord, that lets them live as long as you prive payments.

> Partnership doesnt mean equal partners.

It still implies some sort of meeting of the minds. You wouldn't say you've entered a "partnership" with the IRS because you paid your taxes, nor a "partnership" with the police because they pulled you over and searched your car.

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

#87

Post by wolverine876 »

engineer_22 wrote: post #81
wolverine876 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an interesting question: What does that mean? Maybe it's better to look at cryptocurrencies as financial securities, shares in an asset controlled by a private company (as has been said many times before). Could General Electric 'disable' the shares of a shareholder? What would that mean? The shareholder can't sell their shares, I suppose, but GE's equity would remain the same (not counting any market movement t…

-> Software to help landlords collude, take housing off the market, and jack up rents? You're being facetious right? A suit last month alleges just that . https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/14-big-landlords...

Yes, that's what I was referring to.

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

#88

Post by ptek »

Tether has a market cap of $91,767,545,339 on coingecko.com at the moment, I don't know how many of that holdings is in BTC, ETH or FIAT. But if these guys can create Tether out of thin air (If it's not fixed like BTC) and syphon it off to personal created wallets..

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

#89

Post by wolverine876 »

nostrademons wrote: post #78
wolverine876 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an interesting question: What does that mean? Maybe it's better to look at cryptocurrencies as financial securities, shares in an asset controlled by a private company (as has been said many times before). Could General Electric 'disable' the shares of a shareholder? What would that mean? The shareholder can't sell their shares, I suppose, but GE's equity would remain the same (not counting any market movement t…

Companies absolutely can "disable" trading by certain shareholders. This is what an IPO lock-up is, where insiders cannot sell their shares until 6-12 months after the conclusion of the IPO. It's also what a trading blackout is, where employees cannot trade shares between the end of the quarter and release of earnings. These are very common - almost everyone who works for a public company has encountered them. These…

Good points about trading that's disabled. I just wonder what is the same and different about cryptocurrencies like Tether's.

> They simply drop out of circulation, and the price of all other Bitcoin rises to compensate.

Would that be different for Tether? Isn't Tether a 'private' blockchain that the company controls?

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

#90

Post by RustyRussell »

redcobra762 wrote: post #85
RustyRussell wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except we know of occasions they printed tether in return for collateral promises, rather than actually for cash. Not to mention filling a hole with Bitfinex stock when one of their processors got raided. Now, it's just a question of degree: they're so profitable they can recover from being fractional rapidly. OTOH, why mess with a working formula?

Do we “know” that? We have evidence for it, but there’s more uncertainty than you’re letting on. To be clear, I have zero financial interest in any crypto, I just think it’s premature to assume the worst just because of the industry.

Yes, the NY investigation was all about this: they patched up the loss and quietly changed their terms to being backed by cash or equivalents.

And they later detailed the $1bn Tether printed for Celcius in return for collateral (once Celcius collapsed and they claimed it was fully repaid).

Understand: for modern banks this kind of fractional behaviour is considered normal. It's only from the weird Bitcoin perspective that full reserve would be a requirement.

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