In recent weeks, more than half of all bitcoin trades took place against Tether. Yet few knew for certain if there were dollars backing those tokens. This week, Tether released a letter from its bank, Bahamas-based Deltec, saying, “We hereby confirm that, at the close of business on October 31, 2018, the portfolio cash value of your account with our bank was US$1,831,322,828.” That amount was nearly $55 million above the amount of Tether tokens in circulation. Over and done with, right? Not exactly. Crypto Twitter talmudicly began parsing the letter, particularly the second part, which reads: “This letter is provided without any liability, however arising, on the part of…
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Bitfinex’s new tactic: Attack journalists
Tether’s sister company goes after reporter who published something they didn’t like
Bitfinex, the embattled exchange with a reputation for opaqueness, has taken on a combative approach against journalists—specifically, targeting one from a big name in crypto reporting. About a week ago, CoinDesk’s David Floyd began focusing on the crypto soap opera that is Bitfinex and Tether. On October 19, he wrote a piece about how traders were moving their Tether tokens on to Kraken. It appears those traders were then selling their tether for U.S. dollars because the exchange rate touched a low of 85 cents. “With users apparently unable to convert their USDT into dollars in the way envisioned by Tether’s white paper, they seem to be trying to accomplish…
