{"id":241,"date":"2019-04-28T11:48:29","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T15:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/?p=241"},"modified":"2020-12-13T22:43:42","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T03:43:42","slug":"this-week-in-brief-bitcoin-dump-bitfinex-tether-yelp-ethereal-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/this-week-in-brief-bitcoin-dump-bitfinex-tether-yelp-ethereal-summit","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Brief: Bitcoin Dump, BitFinex, Tether, Yelp, Ethereal Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Well, the week was as it was\u2014turbulent, full of rumors, innuendos, threats of law actions and above everything, price resilience. Bitcoin, despite all the drama surrounding Tether Limited, BitFinex and the parent company in iFinex, is nonetheless one of the top performing digital assets trailing Binance Coin, which is up 400 percent in the last few months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even so, analysts as well as investors are optimistic and\nthanks mostly to the direct correlation Bitcoin has with altcoins, a dip or a\nrise often have a magnifying effect. As a result of Apr-25 events, Bitcoin is\nback towards the $5,100 and following suite are Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash\n(BCH) all other top-5 asset aside from range-bound Ripple (XRP). But what\nexactly is the case with the New York Office of the Attorney General.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The market is falling possibly on the news that The New York Attorney General\u2019s office has alleged in a statement that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bitfinex?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">@bitfinex<\/a> concealed a loss of $ 850 million by using Tether&#39;s reserves.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2WxGY2y36W\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/2WxGY2y36W<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wZlk1aMC7O\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/wZlk1aMC7O<\/a><\/p>&mdash; ICO Drops (@ICODrops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ICODrops\/status\/1121697899413495809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">April 26, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Thing is the office is known for suing entities contravening NY spelled out laws with iFinex, Facebook and NRA being the latest. But, the case around iFinex is the decision of BitFinex to use $700 million of Tether Limited reserves to plug an $850 million hole, which the exchange is yet to recover. Because of that, BitFinex had to use USDT reserves for liquidity and to to in good terms with clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">1\/ STUNNED but not surprised by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Bitfinex?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">#Bitfinex<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Tether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">#Tether<\/a> news out of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NewYork?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">#NewYork<\/a>. I&#39;ll let other cryptolawyers analyze it but here are two macro thoughts: (1) There&#39;s a big double standard here. (2) Exchanges, clean up your act&#8211;cryptographically prove your solvency <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u4vpjh7Kjw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/u4vpjh7Kjw<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Caitlin Long \ud83d\udd11\u26a1\ufe0f\ud83d\udfe0 (@CaitlinLong_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CaitlinLong_\/status\/1121568982580985856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">April 26, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem now is that USDT is backed by the very reserves\nand technically that is supposed to affect the 1:1 peg against the USD. Well,\nit was a while back and no-one noticed. It also simultaneously coincided with\nTether minting another $300 million calling into question their operation\npractices. Take note that in the last few months, the exchange has been entangled\nin several scandals including their problems with banks which consequently\naffected withdrawals temporarily triggering a coin flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bitfinex Respond to New York Attorney General&#39;s Actions <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/snxHU2yeb5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/snxHU2yeb5<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Bitfinex (@bitfinex) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bitfinex\/status\/1121607525919490048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">April 26, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;If anything, if the\nNY OAG decided to wash iFinex and BitFinex\u2019s linen in public and as they say\nuncover fraud attracting heavy fines, then the exchange&#8211;which is part of the\ncrypto ecosystem\u2014is the source of 5 percent of Bitcoin\u2019s daily volume, will\ntake a hit and well, BTC may drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/ProofofResearch\/status\/1122059001515188225\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless, other events like Yelp adding a filter on iOS allowing\ncustomers find merchants accepting cryptocurrencies, is a reflection of\nacceptance. Merchants are gravitating towards crypto like never before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Yelp?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">#Yelp<\/a> has now added a filter accessible on iPhones to show which businesses accept <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/crypto?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">#crypto<\/a> for payment. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/moreadoption?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">#moreadoption<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Weiss Crypto (@WeissCrypto) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WeissCrypto\/status\/1121356964531929088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">April 25, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And it\u2019s not hard to see why. Crypto are global and with Point-of-sale companies like PundiX, CoinBase in collaboration with Visa and Crypto.com previously Monaco, it is now so easy for them to part of the movement. Then again we have Microsoft\u2019s involvement at <a href=\"https:\/\/etherealsummit.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Ethereal Summit<\/a> in New York where rewards of up-to $67,000 payable in Dai stable coin is out for the developers planning to re-configure the world\u2019s financial system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The drama around BitFinex and NY Office of the Attorney General is dominating headlines calling into question the validity of the USD and USDT 1:1 peg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11,32,33],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bitcoin","tag-bitfinex","tag-tether"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hodlin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}