Two Bloomberg stories about bitcoin published within an hour of each other on Thursday seemed barely related. But to those who follow the space closely, they are really the same story—and it’s perhaps the biggest story in crypto, one that may yet turn out to be the Enron of the cryptocurrency world, if not worse. The first piece, which went live at 4 a.m. Eastern Time, said the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal probe into bitcoin price manipulation. The feds are said to be looking at the practices of spoofing and executing wash trades to move the price of the cryptocurrency. [“Spoofing” is when someone puts in a…
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Something smells fishy. Just hope it's not because you're a fish on a hook (Photo via Shutterstock).Something is very worrisome with the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange
Things are getting weirder and weirder with Bitfinex
Bitcoin’s price is being met with tough skepticism lately, with worry stemming from an exchange called Bitfinex and a cryptocurrency called Tether, created by the founders of Bitfinex. Earlier this week, Bloomberg broke the news that they were subpoenaed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission back in December. Bitfinex is believed to host more crypto trading than any other exchange in the world. The Tether cryptocurrency is pegged to the dollar—tokens always cost $1 USD—imbuing it with a certain street cred that makes it useful for purchasing other cryptocurrencies. But watchful eyes noticed that gobs of new Tether were created at times when other cryptocurrency prices were crashing. This…