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

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.

Comments

“Crypto” is not a synonym for “C

[93 Escort Wagon]

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

People submitting stories to Slashdot should know better.

Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for &ldqu

[Baron_Yam]

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'.

Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for &

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Don't blame the submitters. Blame the editors.

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

Re:“Crypto” is not a synonym for &ldqu

[Kremmy]

Update your firmware.

Re: At 2.3 Billion

[Holi]

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.