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Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

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Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#41

Post by JumpCrisscross »

evancox100 wrote: post #34
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> depositing USDT into Bitfinex has always immediately credited your USD balance This doesn't mean anything if that U.S. dollar balance cannot be redeemed for actual U.S. dollars. Saying "I have 1 USDT" or "I have 1 U.S. dollar on deposit at Bitfinex" is roughly equivalent--both depend on Bitfinex honoring its end of the deal.

Of course the same is true for any bank or bank-like entity, all the way up the chain to the Federal Reserve. I don't know a lot about Bitfinex, but it seems that the relevant questions are: 1) If you have "X U.S. dollars on deposit at Bitfinex", how easy is it to transfer that balance to an external account? (Maybe possible with a fee?) 2) Can you withdraw the balance in person directly for USD cash? (lol) 3) Does t…

> the same is true for any bank or bank-like entity, all the way up the chain to the Federal Reserve

No, it isn't. For one, ATMs. For another, bank deposits are insured. The banks, themselves, are heavily audited. In fact, "no depositor has ever lost a penny of insured deposits since the FDIC was created in 1933" [1]. (Best treasury practice is to (a) open multiple accounts, to keep deposits insured or (b) hold excess cash as Treasuries.)

[1] https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/banking/facts/

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#42

Post by stephen_g »

andrewla wrote: post #13
ForHackernews wrote: post #3

It's not like Bitfinex has ever allowed anyone to cash out their USDT for USD (despite claims to the contrary) so maybe this is just them coming clean about that fact? They've also removed (false) claims about being audited from their FAQs section[0] [0] https://tether.to/faqs/ vs https://web.archive.org/web/20180628141947/https://tether.to...

I haven't been able to test this directly since I'm in New York and therefore am not allowed to have an account on Bitfinex, but nobody has reported withdrawal difficulties in a very long time, and Bitfinex has always treated USDT deposits as USD without any explicit or implicit conversion. Bitfinex has had withdrawal problems and banking problems in the past, but to my knowledge the only recent problems have been ar…

What is your source for nobody having any withdraw difficulties? I'm seeing heaps of USD withdraw problems on various twitter feeds that track this kind of thing.

BTC withdraw etc. seems to be working fine but not USD.

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#43

Post by evancox100 »

Xixi wrote: post #40
evancox100 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course the same is true for any bank or bank-like entity, all the way up the chain to the Federal Reserve. I don't know a lot about Bitfinex, but it seems that the relevant questions are: 1) If you have "X U.S. dollars on deposit at Bitfinex", how easy is it to transfer that balance to an external account? (Maybe possible with a fee?) 2) Can you withdraw the balance in person directly for USD cash? (lol) 3) Does t…

1) Until that announcement: impossible for regular people, and maybe possible for big enough customers agreeing to go through many hoops like dealing with a bank in Uganda (from what I've heard, not sure if even that was possible). 2) Of course not. 3) Which federal government are you thinking about? I think Bitfinex is a Hong Kong entity, and Hong Kong is not a federation (it's a Special Administrative Region of the…

Thanks for the answers! And sorry, I was being US-centric. Doesn't really matter which government we're talking about, I don't think any of them would offer any protection.

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#44

Post by evancox100 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #41
evancox100 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course the same is true for any bank or bank-like entity, all the way up the chain to the Federal Reserve. I don't know a lot about Bitfinex, but it seems that the relevant questions are: 1) If you have "X U.S. dollars on deposit at Bitfinex", how easy is it to transfer that balance to an external account? (Maybe possible with a fee?) 2) Can you withdraw the balance in person directly for USD cash? (lol) 3) Does t…

> the same is true for any bank or bank-like entity, all the way up the chain to the Federal Reserve No, it isn't. For one, ATMs. For another, bank deposits are insured. The banks, themselves, are heavily audited. In fact, "no depositor has ever lost a penny of insured deposits since the FDIC was created in 1933" [1]. (Best treasury practice is to (a) open multiple accounts, to keep deposits insured or (b) hold exces…

Yes, exactly the issues that the rest of my post went into. I believe we're in violent disagreement.

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#45

Post by nosuchthing »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #20
deweller wrote: post #19

Tether just opened up a platform for withdrawing fiat USD directly from them: https://tether.to/tether-reopens-account-verification-and-di... > This update allows the immediate withdrawal of Tether to fiat (1:1), with the ability to acquire coming soon. So Tether still backs the USDT 1:1 by fiat while Bitfinex just becomes another trading market. Other exchanges already have USDT markets that change in value. This ev…

> Tether still backs the USDT 1:1 by fiat while Bitfinex just becomes another trading market We don't have any evidence Tether has hard currency backing its Tether. We do know Tether and Bitfinex are under investigation in multiple jurisdictions, and that brokerage deposits are less protected than obligations marketed as being freely redeemable or secured (as Tether was). At the end of the day, Bitfinex and Tether ar…

Not one person has come forward with proof they've successfully registered with the Tether redemption platform.

Tether does not back 1:1, they charge 3% if you can even register to "redeem" so at best it's 1.00 : 0.97

Also worth noting, Tether has removed any mention of audits on their website:

Current FAQ: https://tether.to/faqs/

  Is Tether transparent?
  Yes. Tether’s platform is built to be fully transparent at all times. 
  Every tether is backed 100% by its original currency.
Archived page (from June): https://web.archive.org/web/20180628141947/https://tether.to...

  Yes. Tether’s platform is built to be fully transparent at all times and is regularly audited.
  Every tether is backed 100% by its original currency.

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#46

Post by nosuchthing »

chrisco255 wrote: post #16
rememberlenny wrote: post #6

Can someone explain why this is important?

Tether has been viewed as a weak-link in the crypto ecosystem and rumors of a potential Tether "scam" have swirled around since at least last year. People have speculated that Bitfinex (the company behind Tether) did not have the $2B in cash on hand to back the $2B worth of Tether (symbol: USDT which is supposed to trade at roughly 1:1 with the USD) in circulation. They were subpoenaed, but so far no charges have bee…

"a reputable institution" for off shore banking and money laundering currently under investigation.

https://thebitcoinnews.com/brazil-tether039s-new-banking-par...

https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/tethers-new-banker-in-the-cr...

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#47

Post by chrisco255 »

User9991 wrote: post #38
chrisco255 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they're making easier to withdraw USDT to fiat, minus a 0.4%-1% fee. All indications are that they do in fact have $2B in cash on hand to back the USDT in circulation: https://tether.to/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Tether-Letter.p...

Yes, BTC and other crypto are down 80-90% in a matter of weeks, but this is Bitfinex making it "easier" to withdraw your money. Are you gullible or trying to deceive others to save yourself?

They're not down 80%-90% within weeks. BTC has been on a year long decline from it's $19K peak this time last year. I'm not gullible, people are withdrawing USD using USDT. Thats a stable coin acting as advertised. I've never owned any Tether. But I've never seen so much FUD. Personally, I'm going to be getting some DAI as a stable coin as I like and trust it's decentralized system much better.

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#48

Post by chrisco255 »

nosuchthing wrote: post #46
chrisco255 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tether has been viewed as a weak-link in the crypto ecosystem and rumors of a potential Tether "scam" have swirled around since at least last year. People have speculated that Bitfinex (the company behind Tether) did not have the $2B in cash on hand to back the $2B worth of Tether (symbol: USDT which is supposed to trade at roughly 1:1 with the USD) in circulation. They were subpoenaed, but so far no charges have bee…

"a reputable institution" for off shore banking and money laundering currently under investigation. https://thebitcoinnews.com/brazil-tether039s-new-banking-par... https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/tethers-new-banker-in-the-cr...

https://www.bitcoininsider.org/article/46790/deltec-bank-tru...

https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/deltec-bank-trust-issues-pu...

Ok, so criminal gets caught, authorities order seizure of Venezuelan's assets held in bank...bank complies with authorities. Yawn. Got any more FUD?

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#49

Post by nosuchthing »

chrisco255 wrote: post #48
nosuchthing wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a reputable institution" for off shore banking and money laundering currently under investigation. https://thebitcoinnews.com/brazil-tether039s-new-banking-par... https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/tethers-new-banker-in-the-cr...

https://www.bitcoininsider.org/article/46790/deltec-bank-tru... https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/deltec-bank-trust-issues-pu... Ok, so criminal gets caught, authorities order seizure of Venezuelan's assets held in bank...bank complies with authorities. Yawn. Got any more FUD?

Sure

  In early April, unconfirmed rumors swirled around €400   
  million said to have been seized by Polish authorities 
  that were alleged to be tied to Bitfinex. As reported on 
  CoinTelegraph, the funds, claimed to be held in Bank 
  Spoldzielczy, were said to link Bitfinex to suspicious 
  activities in Colombia.
https://modernconsensus.com/cryptocurrencies/bitcoin/bitfine...

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitfinex-in-poland-were-there...

Sure sounds like Bitfinex is having a reoccurring theme of having their bank accounts shut down, and then finding banks in weird locations only to get them shut down within a month or two.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tether-found-bank-might-baham...

  “This banking information is commercially sensitive and 
  confidential. You should be very careful with this 
  information. You are asked to keep this information to 
  yourself and to not share it except with your financial 
  institution. Divulging this information could damage not   
  just yourself and Bitfinex, but the entire digital token 
  ecosystem. Accordingly, you are cautioned that there may 
  be serious negative effects associated with this 
  information becoming public.”
Seems legit

https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/bitfinex-and-tether-is-unaudi...

Tether auditor distances itself after publishing "not an audit" and then "Friedman Quietly Removes Bitfinex Mentions"

  A brief announcement posted on Friedman’s own site, dated 
  May 8th 2017 and titled “Friedman Selected as Crypto-Savvy 
  Auditor by Bitfinex” now links to a 404 page. For the 
  record, here’s an archived version.
https://web.archive.org/web/20171129082053/http://www.friedm...

Re: Bitfinex will no longer treat Tether as 1:1 conversion

#50

Post by nosuchthing »

andrewla wrote: post #13
ForHackernews wrote: post #3

It's not like Bitfinex has ever allowed anyone to cash out their USDT for USD (despite claims to the contrary) so maybe this is just them coming clean about that fact? They've also removed (false) claims about being audited from their FAQs section[0] [0] https://tether.to/faqs/ vs https://web.archive.org/web/20180628141947/https://tether.to...

I haven't been able to test this directly since I'm in New York and therefore am not allowed to have an account on Bitfinex, but nobody has reported withdrawal difficulties in a very long time, and Bitfinex has always treated USDT deposits as USD without any explicit or implicit conversion. Bitfinex has had withdrawal problems and banking problems in the past, but to my knowledge the only recent problems have been ar…

Bitfinex's entire subreddit is full of users with unprocessed withdraw issues.

https://reddit.com/r/bitfinex/

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