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US Regulators To Subpoena Crypto Exchange Bitfinex, Tether (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tough-luck dept.

U.S. regulators are scrutinizing one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges as questions mount over a digital token linked to its backers, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. From the report: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sent subpoenas last week to virtual-currency venue Bitfinex and Tether, a company that issues a widely traded coin and claims it's pegged to the dollar, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firms share the same chief executive officer. Tether's coins have become a popular substitute for dollars on cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide, with about $2.3 billion of the tokens outstanding as of Tuesday. While Tether has said all of its coins are backed by U.S. dollars held in reserve, the company has yet to provide conclusive evidence of its holdings to the public or have its accounts audited. Skeptics have questioned whether the money is really there.
Update: "Bitfinex'ed", a pseudonymous blogger whose been calling foul on Tether and Bitfinex for months, outlines steps he thinks exchanges that use Tether should take ASAP.

60 comments

  1. “Crypto” is not a synonym for “C by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

    We’ve been talking about crypto here for longer than cryptocurrencies have been a thing.

    People submitting stories to Slashdot should know better.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  2. At 2.3 Billion by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

    They would be idiots not to keep it all - even low quality investments would beat inflation by several tens of millions of dollars a year.

    1. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      amount of money doesnâ(TM)t impact beating inflation or not, with a dollar you can just as easily beat or fall short of inflation as you could with 2 billion

      with that being said, of course theyâ(TM)d be idiots to ever give real money back for tethers, which is why their disclaimer says that tethers are not redeemable for dollars

    2. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So the only reason Tether trades near $1 is because the exchange says so? There must be some mechanism for keeping it pegged to $1 or traders would start messing with it price.

    3. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It trades on Bitfinex and other gentleman agreement exchanges for the price. The other exchanges are the ones that help prop it up and actually let it eventually cash out (either by getting something else, or shear stupidity).

    4. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      They are the sole miners, so any coin they sell they get 1 buck and they can spend that buck again to buy it back (minus litecoin transaction fees).

      So in theory they can simply adjust the stock to match supply and demand ,,, right down to just buying all the coins back.

    5. Re: At 2.3 Billion by jandrese · · Score: 1

      Buying all of the coins back with what? Do you seriously believe they have a bank account somewhere with 2.3 billion dollars worth of fiat currency in it that they can use to buy back Tethers? They're obviously just printing money and people are buying it up like crazy. The line on their homepage about Tethers being backed by USD is obvious bullshit. Their promise of "regular audits" has gone about as well as you would expect, with them being forced to fire the auditors before they finished their first audit because they had the sheer unmitigated gall to ask where the money was coming from on the balance sheet.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    6. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Holi · · Score: 2

      Considering that is exactly what they claim, then either they are, or the regulators have a very good reason for the investigation. It's an easy case. They are either lying and committing fraud or they have 2.3 billion in USD somewhere.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    7. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Buying all of the coins back with what? Do you seriously believe they have a bank account somewhere with 2.3 billion dollars worth of fiat currency in it that they can use to buy back Tethers? They're obviously just printing money and people are buying it up like crazy. The line on their homepage about Tethers being backed by USD is obvious bullshit. Their promise of "regular audits" has gone about as well as you would expect, with them being forced to fire the auditors before they finished their first audit because they had the sheer unmitigated gall to ask where the money was coming from on the balance sheet.

      I think the question was how this could work. It is certainly possible to have this system. Buy coins x% over $1 and sell coins when the price falls x% under $1. If you keep all the money from selling coins in a low (but safe) account, you get free (but small) interest. It is certainly possible they are doing this. Do I believe they are? No. Not at all.

    8. Re: At 2.3 Billion by DaveV1.0 · · Score: 1

      2.3 billion U,S, Dollars in assets is all that is required. Invested in CDs, bonds, stable commodities, quality real estate, US Treasuries, etc. they could earn a tidy sum in interest and if they are safe value stores, which means the value goes up as the value of the dollar goes down with inflation, when they convert the investment back into dollars, they would be able to buy back all the "coins" and end up with a lot of money left over.

      --
      There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
    9. Re:At 2.3 Billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have allegedly been using Tether to artificially inflate the bitcoin price. With some estimates saying if they are then this will result in upto an 80% drop in bitcoin price (possibly more with the ensuing panic).

    10. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      They are printing tether ... but people are buying it at 1$, or the price would be collapsing. It's a zero sum game, all those dollars to buy new tethers go into their pockets.

      Even if the CEO has been on a non stop cocaine fueled bender buying prostitutes and supercars he's unlikely to have blown through 2.3 Billion dollars. There's only two ways they have substantially less. Either it got stolen/embezzled or they traded with it and made losses.

    11. Re: At 2.3 Billion by robbak · · Score: 1

      They have no banking arrangements - at least, none that anyone knows about - so no one can be paying them all these dollars. They have been using them to buy various cryptocurencies, and, as these have all dropped in price recently, they can't have enough assets to cover all the Tether they have issue.

      --
      Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
    12. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      They don't need a banking arrangement, it eats into their profit but they can exchange the bitcoin/ethereum/whatever they get paid for new tethers to dollars on another exchange.

    13. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, thereâ(TM)s another option. Since they own a trading platform they can print tether, give it to accounts they own, and buy buttcoins with those accounts, artificially inflating the price of butts but never getting dollars until they sell butts at artificially inflated prices

      This is exactly what is happening and why they are being investigated

    14. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2.3 billion U,S, Dollars in assets is all that is required. Invested in CDs, bonds, stable commodities, quality real estate, US Treasuries, etc. they could earn a tidy sum in interest and if they are safe value stores, which means the value goes up as the value of the dollar goes down with inflation, when they convert the investment back into dollars, they would be able to buy back all the "coins" and end up with a lot of money left over.

      Yes, but that would be fraud, for on their front page (tether.to) Tether claim that their tokens are:
      "100% Backed
      Every tether is always backed 1-to-1, by traditional currency held in our reserves. So 1 USD is always equivalent to 1 USD."

    15. Re: At 2.3 Billion by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      If they made a loss with that they made a trading loss, which was one of my options.

      Regardless of what they exchange for new tether, they can convert it to dollars and put them in US government bonds and money market funds..

    16. Re: At 2.3 Billion by michelcolman · · Score: 1

      Just put them into a savings account? Even a 1% rate will give you a tidy 23 million a year.

      Also, on the exchanges, buy every coin that's offered for less than 0.99 and sell (creating new coins as necessary) when people want to buy for more than 1.01. Quite easy to peg the coins to the dollar that way, and profit is guaranteed.

      I really don't understand how they could screw this up. Unless through greed, of course. Nah, that wouldn't happen, would it?

    17. Re: At 2.3 Billion by jandrese · · Score: 1

      Hell, if they do have $2.3 billion USD stashed away somewhere that just leads to more questions. But there's virtually no chance that's the case. They would have taken the money and run at this point if it got that big.

      Here's the real giveaway. Look on their website and see how you sell your Tethers to get the USD. If they actually existed there should be a way to get them out, otherwise they would be useless. But there isn't. All you have is a lie on a webpage claiming that they're backed by real money.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  3. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for &ldqu by Baron_Yam · · Score: 2

    Language evolves, and faster in niche groups. In the 'popular geek stuff' group, 'crypto' now refers to blockchain-based electronic economic token systems and not encryption and such.

    Which is regrettable, because only one of those things should be of any importance to us, and it isn't the one that is currently called 'crypto'.

  4. Tether keeps 1 US dollar for each tether by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you believe it?

    1. Re: Tether keeps 1 US dollar for each tether by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, also I am a drooling moron

    2. Re:Tether keeps 1 US dollar for each tether by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Do you believe it?

      Not on your life... They could prove their assertion, but choose not to. I choose not to trust them until they do.

      I'm certainly not going to bet they are telling the truth, until they prove they are.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    3. Re:Tether keeps 1 US dollar for each tether by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      I actively disbelieve them. Lack of transparency is an indicator of fraud or incompetence in finance. Active opacity is only an indicator of fraud.

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    4. Re:Tether keeps 1 US dollar for each tether by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      "USA government holds 1 US dollar bill for each US dollar."

      Would you believe that?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    5. Re:Tether keeps 1 US dollar for each tether by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol

    6. Re:Tether keeps 1 US dollar for each tether by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure the shop around my corner where I buy my flour to bake my pancakes from, has an extra pound of flour for every pound I buy to bacck my baking. And if I really need some flour I can trade in my flour for some flour from the bbaccking to bake more pancakes!

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    7. Re:Tether keeps 1 US dollar for each tether by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Federal Reserve should be audited at the same time.

  5. Supoena the tulip fields by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Supoena the shovel makers. There is even an ICO for Supoenacoin.

    Captcha:coined

    1. Re: Supoena the tulip fields by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sooner tether is shut down the better.

  6. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for & by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Cryptocurrency is a very poor name for the "technology" of blockchains and coins. It is neither crypto nor currency. It is a digital trading system based on hashing proof of work. The actual ledger is completely open and verifiable, and has no cryptography in it. It has some degree of steganography in the form of hash checking to verify the prior block.

    Using words for what they mean is important, and is being lost in this age of lies and misinformation.

  7. Re:Don't blame the submitters. Blame the editors. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    It isn't the fault of a submitter when a shitty summary ends up on the Slashdot front page. There's only one set of people (or cron jobs?) responsible, and they're called the "editors".

    What did cron jobs ever do to you to deserve that comparison?

  8. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for &ldqu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You lost that one. I feel your pain, there are words that I hate that are now common usage, but when the civilians start using the word that's how it's gonna stick. Welcome to the English language "always in flux".

  9. Re:âoeCryptoâ is not a synonym for by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

    >Using words for what they mean is important

    I agree... but at a certain point you have to accept that you've lost the battle and the word now has a new meaning, and that further resistance means YOU are no longer using the word properly.

    Ultimately, the goal is effective communication, and if your definition doesn't match that of the majority, you're going to have a problem communicating.

  10. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm a believer in cryptocurrency and Tether needs to be shut down. It's creating a credibility problem for the entire field. Hopefully when MUFG launched their own crypto that is pegged to the Japanese Yen, we can all use that as a safe haven instead.

  11. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for &ldqu by Kremmy · · Score: 2

    Update your firmware.

  12. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for & by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    It is a digital trading system based on hashing proof of work.

    Not all coins are based on that.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  13. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for &ldqu by Holi · · Score: 1

    Since we are able to understand usage based on context I don't see the issue.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  14. Re:âoeCryptoâ is not a synonym for by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 0

    But we (geeks) still commonly use "crypto" as shorthand for cryptography, such as in the phrases "public key crypto" or "symmetric crypto" or "elliptic curve crypto".

    The title on this Slashdot submission is, to the best of my knowledge, actually the first time I've seen someone write "crypto" when they are referring to "cryptocurrency"... because people generally spell out "cryptocurrency".

    This isn't "hackers" versus "crackers"... this is just bad/lazy writing.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  15. Re: “Crypto” is not a synonym for & by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The actual ledger is completely open and verifiable, and has no cryptography in it.

    Odd. I was pretty certain the block chain was full of cryptographically signed data. That's the entire point, isn't it?

    Yes, I know what you meant. But if you are going to bitch about people not using tech terms correctly, you should be sure to use them correctly yourself

  16. Re:You = fake name massive human fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My apologies for the unusual post, my cock was in APK's toothless, diseased mouth

  17. "sent subpoenas on Dec. 6" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm betting Bloomberg made a small fortune on shorting Bitcoin today.

    1. Re:"sent subpoenas on Dec. 6" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shorts dont expire for another month

  18. TETHER FRAUD SOON TO COLLAPSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The fraud is soon to collapse, and the whole crypto market will burn in hell with it, since every platform is using usdt instead of usd !!!sell sell sell while you can, and don't keep ustd!!

  19. "Subpoena" a foreign company? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Can someone explain how the US can effectively subpoena a company based in Hong Kong? Bloomberg seems to be spreading the FUD today.

    1. Re:"Subpoena" a foreign company? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because Hong Kong authorities are friendly to US regulators, and vice versa. Local authorities will work with the US authorities to serve them in Hong Kong / Taiwan / BVIs

  20. Cryptocurrency Dead Yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just waiting for the day when people finally realize cryptocurrency is a half-baked scheme. A phenomenon most definitely. And interesting.

    It's a fear driven market. It's supposed to replace traditional money, but investors still hope to make more traditional money when crypto value hopefully increases. It's not a commodity, but treated like one. And it totally fails at doing what it's supposed to do - being a currency. It's hard to convert to something useful. Governments eye it suspiciously. And it's backed by absolutely nothing. Zip. Nada. Just a number.

  21. Subpoenas were sent two months ago, 6th december by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Subpoenas were sent two months ago, 6th december

  22. Bitfinex isn't a US company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Good luck with that subpoena.

    1. Re:Bitfinex isn't a US company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a Taiwanese company, and Taiwan is friendly to US regulators. Understand?

  23. Re:âoeCryptoâ is not a synonym for by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    I as well will apreciate the time when we all say: uug! hug! ogg! ogg huug, uug! And everyone knows what we are talking about.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  24. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for &ldqu by Zaelath · · Score: 1

    English words can mean more than one thing; I can post (mail) a post (stick) to a post (location).

    Perhaps you should switch to Spanish.

  25. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for & by fisted · · Score: 1

    Using words for what they mean is important, and is being lost in this age of lies and misinformation.

    Oh the irony.

    --
    CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
  26. Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for & by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pon una publicación en tu culo

  27. Re:âoeCryptoâ is not a synonym for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Words actually evolve over time. More people refer to cryptocurrency as "crypto" than they do for cryptography.

  28. ob xkcd by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    https://deadhomersociety.files...

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."