Category: Tether/Bitfinex

What Stablecoins Might Become

(This article was originally published at Coindesk) Identifying the ideal path to regulatory compliance for a stablecoin has been difficult. It seems that United States regulators have taken a much more active interest in this industry, though it is still not entirely clear what they want stablecoins to be and what they will want stablecoins … Continue reading What Stablecoins Might Become →

Episode 30 — Taiwan and Tether (with Sam Reynolds) — Crypto Critics’ Corner

https://cryptocriticscorner.com/2021/10/17/episode-30-taiwan-and-tether-with-sam-reynolds/ https://anchor.fm/s/4fa795b4/podcast/rss https://youtu.be/73kQmuGGIt8 In this episode Cas and I are joined by Sam Reynolds of Blockwords to discuss the importance of Taiwan to the Tether story. Taiwan is where Tether originally started and where they originally banked.  AnchorSpotifyAppleGoogleOvercastRSS Feed

Tether’s Change of Heart

I have struggled for years to parse Tether's behavior. It is very difficult to determine which of their inexplicable actions are motivated by incompetence, by negligence, by desperation, or by malice. Were they unbacked because they were taking advantage of their users, because they thought they had no better option, or because they didn't realize … Continue reading Tether’s Change of Heart →

Episode 28 — Liberty Reserve: The First Stablecoin — Crypto Critics’ Corner

https://cryptocriticscorner.com/2021/10/04/episode-28-liberty-reserve-the-first-stablecoin/ https://anchor.fm/s/4fa795b4/podcast/rss https://youtu.be/Fim-939Cbxg In this episode Cas and I discuss what we call the ‘first stablecoin’ Liberty Reserve. Liberty Reserve was a digital representation of a dollar that was marketed based on its censorship resistance that was frequently used for illicit acts and was shut down thanks to massive cooperation between regulators and law enforcement. … Continue reading Episode 28 — Liberty Reserve: The First Stablecoin — Crypto Critics’ Corner →

Tether’s Executives are Deeply Conflicted

Let's start at the top (or more accurately at the figurehead): Jean Louis Van Der Velde, the CEO of both Bitfinex and Tether is also the executive director for a Hong Kong based Venture Capital Firm. (Archive) Giancarlo Devasini, the Chief Financial Officer for both Bitfinex and Tether, is a shareholder and director in BlueBit … Continue reading Tether’s Executives are Deeply Conflicted →

Episode 26 — Cryptocurrency Lending is Too Good to Believe — Crypto Critics’ Corner

https://cryptocriticscorner.com/2021/09/13/episode-26-cryptocurrency-lending-is-too-good-to-believe/ https://anchor.fm/s/4fa795b4/podcast/rss https://youtu.be/A_Sj_ZrlyLs In this episode Cas and I discuss the problems with cryptocurrency lending companies including BlockFi, Celsius, and Nexo. They are marketed as risk-free while actually you take on significant counterparty risk.  AnchorSpotifyAppleGoogleOvercastRSS Feed

Sunday Reads – Things I Found Interesting 2021-08-08

Binance After less than four months the CEO of Binance US resigns. https://twitter.com/BrianBrooksUS/status/1423727097323802626 ICYMI In these two episodes Cas and I are joined by Frances Coppola to discuss inflation, deflation, regulation, stablecoins, and algorithmic stablecoins. https://bennettftomlin.com/2021/08/02/episode-19-inflation-deflation-and-stablecoins-with-frances-coppola-part-1-crypto-critics-corner/ https://bennettftomlin.com/2021/08/06/episode-20-algorithmic-stablecoins-and-regulation-with-frances-coppola-part-2-crypto-critics-corner/