Wikipedia

Tether (cryptocurrency)

(Redirected from Draft:Tether (cryptocurrency))
For other uses, see Tether (disambiguation).

Tether (often referred to by its currency codes, USD₮ and USDT, among others) is a cryptocurrency stablecoin launched by Tether Limited Inc. in 2014.[3][4]

Tether
Denominations
Symbol₮
CodeUSD₮, EUR₮, CNH₮, XAU₮, MXN₮[1]
Development
White paperTether White Paper.pdf
Initial release2014-10-06 16:39:15 UTC[2]
Valuation
Exchange ratePegged to reference fiat currency or gold
Website
Websitetether.to

As of August 1, 2024, Tether reported having $118.4 billion in reserves, including $5.3 billion in excess reserves. In the second quarter of 2024, the company achieved profit of $1.3 billion, contributing to a total profit of $5.2 billion for the first half of the year. Tether Limited also disclosed a net equity of $11.9 billion, and the stablecoin's market capitalization exceeded $114 billion.[5][6]

Tether faces criticism regarding the transparency and verifiability of its claimed fiat reserves.[7]

Tether is the largest cryptocurrency in terms of trading volume, holding 70% of the market share among stablecoins. In 2019, it has surpassed bitcoin to become the most traded cryptocurrency globally.[8][9][10] As of July 2024, Tether has more than 350 million users worldwide.[11]

Tether Limited is owned by iFinex, a company based in the British Virgin Islands which also operates the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange.[12] As of January 2024, Tether's official website lists fourteen protocols and blockchains on which Tether has been minted.[1]

History

edit

Creation

edit

In 2012, J. R. Willett published a whitepaper that described the possibility of building new cryptocurrencies on top of the bitcoin blockchain.[13][non-primary source needed] Willett went on to help implement this idea in the cryptocurrency Mastercoin, which had an associated Mastercoin Foundation (later renamed the Omni Foundation[14][non-primary source needed]) to promote the use of this new "second layer".[citation needed] The Mastercoin protocol became the technological foundation of the Tether cryptocurrency, and one of the original members of Mastercoin Foundation. Brock Pierce became a co-founder of Tether[citation needed] and Tether founder, Craig Sellars, became the CTO of the Mastercoin Foundation.[15]

The precursor to Tether, originally named "Realcoin", was announced in July 2014 by co-founders Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins, and Craig Sellars as a Santa Monica–based startup.[16] The first tokens were issued on 6 October 2014, on the bitcoin blockchain.[17][non-primary source needed] Realcoin used bitcoin's computer infrastructure to exchange property and execute contracts without third-party intermediaries, opening up bitcoin's network to a variety of commercial uses. Realcoin worked with banks, digital-currency exchanges, and ATM providers to become "gateways" for buying, trading, or redeeming realcoins around the world.[15]

On 20 November 2014, Tether CEO Reeve Collins announced the project was being renamed to "Tether".[citation needed]

The company also announced it was entering private beta, which supported a "Tether+ token" for three currencies: USTether (US+) for United States dollars, EuroTether (EU+) for euros, and YenTether (JP+) for Japanese yen. Tether Holdings Limited is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands with offices in Switzerland, without giving details, and has never submitted to an independent audit.[18][19]

In July 2022, Tether started releasing quarterly attestations by the accounting company BDO. According to The Wall Street Journal, "since at least 2017, Tether has been assuring investors that it will get audited, though it has yet to deliver." The quarterly attestations are "snapshots of a company’s assets held at one moment in time with less rigorous standards than audits."[20]

2015–2016

edit

In January 2015, the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex enabled trading of Tether on their platform. In 2018, Phil Potter, the chief strategy officer for Bitfinex, left the company after the Paradise Papers leaks in November 2017 named Bitfinex officials Philip Potter and Giancarlo Devasini as responsible for setting up Tether Holdings Limited in the British Virgin Islands in 2014.[21]

The FT reported in 2022 that Devasini and Jan Ludovicus van der Velde founded two companies in 2012 and 2014, respectively, Bitfinex and Tether.[22][23] Tether Limited is a fully owned subsidiary of British Virgin Islands–based Tether Holdings Limited.[18]

For a short period, Tether managed US dollar transactions through Taiwanese banks, which worked with Wells Fargo to enable the transfer of funds outside of Taiwan. On April 18, 2017, Tether shared that these international transfers had come to a stop.[citation needed]

Tether issues tokens on Algorand, Avalanche, Celo, Ethereum, EOS, Liquid Network, Near, Polygon, Solana, Bitcoin Cash's Standard Ledger Protocol, Statemint, Tezos, and Tron.[24][non-primary source needed]

Currently, there are a total of five distinct Tether tokens: United States dollar tether (USD₮) on bitcoin's Omni layer, euro tether (EUR₮) on bitcoin's Omni layer, United States dollar tether (USD₮) as an ERC-20 token, and euro tether (EUR₮) as an ERC-20 token, and added in 2020 United States dollar tether (USD₮) as a TRC-20 token on the TRON network.[citation needed]

In August 2024, Tether announced that they would be launching a stablecoin pegged to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) dirham. The dirham, like several Gulf currencies, is pegged to the U.S. dollar.[4]

2017–2018

edit

From January 2017 to September 2018, the amount of tethers outstanding grew from about $10 million to about $2.8 billion. In early 2018, Tether accounted for about 10% of the trading volume of bitcoin, but during the summer of 2018, it accounted for up to 80% of bitcoin volume.[25] More than $500 million of Tether was issued in August 2018.[26][27]

On 15 October 2018, the tether price briefly fell to $0.88 due to the perceived credit risk as traders on Bitfinex exchanged tether for bitcoin, driving up the price of bitcoin.[28]

The Wall Street Journal reported that in late 2018, Tether Holdings Ltd former co-owner Stephen Moore discussed efforts by a major Tether trader in China to "circumvent the banking system by providing fake sales invoices and contracts for each deposit and withdrawal." The report quoted a Moore email in which he admitted signing these fake invoices and contracts but said he "would not want to argue any of the above in a potential fraud/money laundering case."[29] Tether released a response calling the Journal report "wholly inaccurate and misleading" but didn't cite any specific inaccuracies.[30]

2019–present

edit

In 2019, Tether surpassed Bitcoin in trading volume with the highest daily and monthly trading volume of any cryptocurrency on the market.[8]

As of July 2021, Tether is tied to half of all bitcoin trades.[31]

In 2021, the company was fined by the CFTC for only maintaining full reserves during 27.6% of the days in the period from 2016 to 2018[32] as well as for failing to present audits showing sufficient asset reserves.[33][34][35]

In May 2022, Tether launched its MXNT token pegged to Mexico's peso as a "testing ground" in Latin America.[36]

In 2022, Tether remained strong during a time when several once-reputable companies in crypto and banking collapsed. Tether's nearest competitor, Circle, experienced a faltered growth to the point where its $24 billion of USDC was worth barely more than a quarter of Tether's stash.[37]

In October 2023, Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer for Tether, was promoted to CEO.[38] He has led the company since December 2023, succeeding current CEO Jean-Louis van der Velde.[38]

In October 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tether has been increasingly showing up in investigations tied to money laundering, terror financing, and sanctions evasion. Research firm Elliptic later disputed the report's accuracy, saying it has engaged with the Wall Street Journal to correct misinterpretations of the level of crypto fundraising by Hamas.[39] In response, the company published a blog post denying inadequate customer due diligence and screening practices. It described how they have aided governments with criminal investigations, helping freeze $835 million in assets linked to theft.[40] The company reported in 2024 that they have worked with more than 140 law enforcement offices across 45 jurisdictions to assist cases involving illicit stablecoin use.[41]

During a February 2024 Congressional hearing, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer called the Wall Street Journal’s October 2023 article "erroneous", noting federal reports on global financial crimes showed that the actual amount of cryptocurrency used by these groups is "significantly smaller" than what was reported by media outlets.[42][43]

In May 2023, Tether announced plans to establish a bitcoin mining operation in Uruguay using renewable energy and investing its resources into renewable energy production. Uruguay sources more than 98% of its electricity output from renewable energy sources, primarily wind and hydropower.[44]

In June 2023, Tether Operations Limited held meetings with governmental structures and signed a memorandum with the Government of Georgia. The partnership will create a special fund for local startups and aid in developing blockchain technologies in Georgia.[45]

In November 2023, Tether announced that it plans to invest about half a billion dollars over the next six months to become one of the world's top bitcoin miners. That investment includes part of a $610 million credit facility that Tether had extended to publicly-traded bitcoin mining company Northern Data AG after acquiring shares in the Frankfurt-based firm in September.[46]

In December 2023, Lugano, Switzerland, started to accept cryptocurrencies, including the Tether stablecoin, for paying taxes, fines, and all other invoices.[47]

In January 2024, Howard Lutnick, chief executive of Wall Street giant Cantor Fitzgerald, told BloombergTV at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that concerns about Tether's reserves were misplaced and noted that "they have the money." In the same interview, Lutnick revealed that his company was acting as custodian for Tether's reserves.[48]

According to a report by blockchain analytics company TRM Labs, Tether was the most used stablecoin for criminal activity throughout 2023, having been connected to $19.3 billion in illicit transactions. The amount was larger in the previous year, with $24.7 billion worth of transactions linked to criminal activity in 2022.[49]

In February 2024, Tether announced the establishment of Tether Edu, an education division focused on teaching skills in blockchain and other digital technologies. Tether Edu will focus on Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Asia. The program will be tailored to cover design, artificial intelligence, and coding topics.[50]

In the first quarter of 2024, Tether's profit was $4.52 billion. US Treasury securities were a major contributor to its net profits. Tether also profited from its positions in gold and bitcoin.[51]

Tether announced in April 2024 that they invested $200 million from their excess reserves into Blackrock Neutro, a U.S. based brain-chip company that makes brain-to-computer interfaces, including neural implants that can allow people to control computers and prosthetic arms without moving.[52]

In May 2024, Tether announced it would restructure into four divisions to reflect its wider scope that now includes investments in new technologies like AI and peer-to-peer, renewable energy, and education accessibility. The divisions include Finance, Data, Power, and Edu.[53] Also in 2015, Tether acquired a $100 million stake in Bitdeer, a bitcoin miner that split from Bitmain, via a private placement, with options to acquire another $50 million at $5.00 per share.[54]

In October 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported Tether was the target of a federal criminal investigation for possible violations of sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules.[55]

Tether reported in August 2024 that their profit during the first half of the year was $5.2 billion, with a net operating profit of $1.3 billion during the second quarter alone. Tether also reported that it holds more than $97.6 billion in U.S. Treasuries, making them one of the largest buyers of Treasury bills in the world, more than many countries.[56]

In September 2024, Forbes reported that Tether, along with Tron and blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs, formed the T3 Financial Crime Unit focused on curbing illicit stablecoin activity and collaborating with regulators and law enforcement.[41]

Alleged price manipulation

edit

Academic research

edit

Research by Griffin and Shams found that bitcoin prices increased after Tether minted new USD₮ during market downturns. They speculated this was an attempt at market manipulation.[57] These findings were contested by the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange who claimed the authors cherry-picked data and lacked a complete dataset.[58][non-primary source needed] Subsequent researchers found little to no evidence that Tether USD₮ minting events influenced bitcoin prices, supporting the Bitfinex critique.[59][better source needed] In 2022, research found that bitcoin prices only increased when Whale Alert tweeted to the public that Tether had minted USDT, supporting a classic investor response to news announcements.[60][better source needed] Academic research following the Griffin and Shams study did not conclude that Tether manipulated bitcoin.[59][60][better source needed] The CEO of Tether and Bitfinex commented on the academic debate: "Bitfinex nor Tether is, or has ever, engaged in any sort of market or price manipulation. Tether issuances cannot be used to prop up the price of bitcoin or any other coin/token on Bitfinex."[61]

Media research

edit

Bloomberg News reporters found irregularities on the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, with small market orders moving the market price of Tether as much as larger market orders from 1 May 2018 to 22 June 2018.[62] New York University Professor Rosa Abrantes-Metz and Federal Reserve bank examiner Mark Williams suggested the unusual order sizes were indicative of wash trading by automated trading programs.[62] Kraken offered a rebuttal of these claims, stating that Bloomberg News misunderstood the concept of stablecoin and that the market price of Tether was not greatly influenced by market order size because Tether was a stablecoin pegged to the United States dollar.[63][non-primary source needed] The user responsible for unusual order sizes also confirmed that the oddly specific order sizes and decimal places were "randomly selected".[63][non-primary source needed] The Kraken cryptocurrency exchange rebuttal of the Bloomberg News findings were later supported by academic research concerning the stability of stablecoins.[64]

edit

On 20 November 2018, Bloomberg reported that U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating whether Tether was used to manipulate the price of bitcoin.[65][66]

According to Tether's website, Tether can be newly issued by purchase for dollars or redeemed by exchanges and qualified corporate customers, excluding U.S.-based customers. Journalist Jon Evans states that he has yet to find publicly verifiable examples of a purchase of newly issued tether or a redemption in the year ending August 2018.[67]

Security and liquidity

edit

Tether claims that it intends to hold all United States dollars in reserve to meet customer withdrawals upon demand. It was unable to meet all withdrawal requests in 2017.[68] Tether purports to make reserve account holdings transparent via external audit; however, Tether never produced an audit showing it had the purported reserve.[25] In January 2018 Tether announced that they no longer had a relationship with their auditor.[69]

About $31 million USDT tokens were stolen from Tether in November 2017.[70] Later analysis of the bitcoin distributed ledger showed a close connection between the Tether hack and the January 2015 hack of Bitstamp.[citation needed] In response to the theft, Tether suspended trading, and stated it would roll out new software to implement an emergency "hard fork" to render all of the tokens that Tether identified as stolen in the heist untradeable. Tether has stated that as of 19 December 2017, it has re-enabled limited cryptocurrency wallet services and has begun processing the backlog of pending trades.[citation needed]

On September 19, 2022, due to an ongoing lawsuit in New York District Court, Bitfinex and Tether (referred to in court records as B/T) were ordered to produce documents showing the backing of USDT, which is still pending.[71]

On November 20, 2023, Tether reported that together with OKX, it had frozen $225 million worth of its cryptocurrency, which had been linked to a human trafficking group in Southeast Asia responsible for a global pig butchering scam. Tether claimed the freeze had been done at the request of the US Secret Service and that it was the largest-ever freeze of its token.[72][73] Erin West, deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County, California, told Newsweek that Tether's move represents a decision to declare open season on fraud proceeds.[74]

In December 2023, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino told members of House Financial Services and Senate Banking that the company has been strengthening its relationships with law enforcement and taking new steps to strengthen sanctions controls. Ardoino emphasized Tether's decision to disable its tokens in all wallets associated with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanction list.[75]

In the letter, Ardoino reported that Tether had assisted the Department of Justice, U.S. Secret Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in freezing 326 wallets controlling 435 million USDT thus far. However, the recently frozen wallets appear to contain fewer tokens than the stated sum. Ardoino also revealed that Tether has recently collaborated with the United States Secret Service and is currently working with the FBI.[75]

In March 2024, Tether was acknowledged in an announcement from Morris Pasqual, the Acting U.S. Attorney based out of Chicago, and FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Robert W. "Wes" Wheeler, Jr. for its role in seizing $1.4 million worth of Tether linked to a tech scam network.[76]

In August 2024, Tether was also acknowledged in an announcement from the U.S. Attorney for eastern North Carolina, Michael Easley, and FBI Charlotte Special Agent in Charge Robert M. DeWitt for their role in effectuating the seizure of $5 million worth of Tether stolen through a pig butchering scam.[citation needed]

Questions about dollar reserves

edit

In September 2017, Tether published a memorandum from a public accounting firm that Tether Limited claimed showed that tethers were fully backed by US dollars;[77][non-primary source needed] however, according to the New York Times, independent attorney Lewis Cohen stated the document, because of the careful way it was phrased, does not prove that the Tether coins are backed by dollars.[21] The documents also fail to ascertain whether the balances in question are otherwise encumbered.[68] The accounting firm specifically stated that

This information is intended solely to assist the management of Tether Limited ... and is not intended to be, and should not be, used or relied upon by any other party.[77]

Tether has failed to present audits showing that the amount of tethers outstanding are backed one-to-one by U.S. dollars on deposit despite repeated claims that they would.[78] A June 2018 attempt at an audit was posted on their website in June 2018 which showed a report by the law firm Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan LLP (FSS) which appeared to confirm that dollars fully backed the issued tethers. However, FSS stated "FSS is not an accounting firm and did not perform the above review and confirmations using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles," and "The above confirmation of bank and tether balances should not be construed as the results of an audit and were not conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards."[34] Stuart Hoegner, Tether's general counsel said "the bottom line is an audit cannot be obtained. The big four firms are anathema to that level of risk. We've gone for what we think is the next best thing."[78]

At the end of 2023, Tether's reserves held $63 billion of U.S. Treasuries and, $3.5 billion of precious metals, $2.8 billion of bitcoin, $3.8 billion of other investments, and $4.8 billion of secured loans.[79]

In January 2024, Cantor Fitzgerald's CEO Howard Lutnick said his firm reviewed Tether's assets and confirmed Tether held assets of approximately $86 billion to back $83 billion of its stablecoin.[80] The majority of Tether's reserves held in cash and cash equivalents are US T-Bills, accounting for $72.6 billion.[81]

In Tether's attestation of the second quarter of 2024, it reported that it held nearly $98 billion in U.S. Treasuries. If Tether were a country, it would be the 18th largest holder of U.S. debt among nations.[6][5]

edit

New York Attorney General's case against iFinex

edit

On April 25, 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James (prosecution) filed a lawsuit against iFinex (defendant)—the parent company of Tether Limited and the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange.[82][83] The prosecution claimed that the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange had been unable to secure a reliable fiat banking relationship, so it had entrusted US$1 billion to the Panamanian payment processing firm Crypto Capital Corp.[82][83] The prosecution alleged that funds were commingled with corporate and client deposits and that no contract was ever signed with Crypto Capital.[82][83] The prosecution speculated that Crypto Capital Corp had lost or stolen the money, and executives at Bitfinex and Tether Limited had been unable to recover up to US$850 million of funds.[82][83] The prosecution accused iFinex, Bitfinex, and Tether Limited of using Tether Limited to cover up the shortfall.[82][83]

On April 26, 2019, iFinex contested claims that funds had been lost or stolen by Crypto Capital Corp, stating that funds had been seized, and Bitfinex sought release of the funds.[84] Crypto Capital Corp told Bitfinex the seizures were temporary and presented excuses as to why the funds could not be released to Bitfinex (Case Point 33).[84] Crypto Capital Corp stated that: in May 2018, the government of Poland had frozen a Crypto Capital Corp bank account holding at least US$340 million of Bitfinex funds (Case Point No. 33); and between April and July 2018, a Crypto Capital Corp account in Portugal containing around $150 million of Bitfinex funds had also been frozen (Case Point No. 34).[84] The principals of Crypto Capital Corp were later arrested.[85] During the case, iFinex contested claims that Tether Limited had been used to cover up alleged losses, stating that Bitfinex had borrowed US$400 million from Tether Limited due to the inability to access seized funds from Crypto Capital Corp (Case Point No. 38).[84] Bitfinex stated they had fully repaid the loans with interest to Tether Limited by February 5, 2021.[86][non-primary source needed]

On May 16, 2021, New York Supreme Court Judge Joel M. Cohen granted iFinex's motion to modify the injunction because the New York Attorney General's office's accusations were too general and lacked specificity, stating the prosecution's case was "couched in exceedingly sweeping terms" and "injunctions must be specific."[87][non-primary source needed]

On February 17, 2021, iFinex settled the legal dispute with the New York Attorney General's office. iFinex, Bitfinex, and Tether Limited did not admit any wrongdoing and paid US$18.5 million to settle the case.[88]

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

edit

On December 5, 2017, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (prosecution) issued subpoenas to Bitfinex and Tether Limited concerning the backing of minted USD₮.[89] Before February 25, 2019, Tether Limited's terms claimed "Every tether is always backed 1-to-1, by traditional currency held in our reserves. So 1 USDT is always equivalent to 1 USD".[35] After February 25, 2019, Tether Limited revised their terms to instead claim that "Tether Tokens are 100% backed by Tether's Reserves", defining said "reserves" as "traditional currency and cash equivalents and, from time to time, may include other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties, which may include affiliated entities."[35]

On April 30, 2019, iFinex (defendant)—the parent company of Tether Limited and the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange—issued an affidavit asserting that minted USD₮ was 74% backed by a narrow definition of cash and cash equivalents, with the remaining 26% supposedly backed by other assets.[90]

On October 15, 2021, Tether Limited paid a fine of US$41.6 million for inaccurately claiming that minted USD₮ were 100% backed by fiat USD when they were not—even by Tether Limited's affidavit, they were only backed by a combination of fiat USD and other assets such as "unsecured receivables, commercial papers, funds held by third parties, and other non-fiat assets" (supposedly at 100% in total).[35] Tether Limited responded by revising their claims to state that "All Tether tokens are pegged at 1-to-1 with a matching fiat currency and are backed 100% by Tether's reserves."[91] Tether Limited released assurance reports from 2017 to 2022 attesting to the 100% backing of minted USD₮.[92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][non-primary source needed] In May 2021, Tether published a report showing that 2.9% of Tether was backed by fiat USD, with over 49.6% backed by commercial paper, and the remaining amount backed by other assets.[101][102] Tether Limited continues to refuse to allow an independent audit to verify its claims of full backing.

In October 2022, Tether reported reducing its commercial paper holdings to zero, replacing them with U.S. treasury bills.[103]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Transparency". Tether.to. 3 July 2022. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Create Property - Managed". omniexplorer.info. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  3. ^ Lipton, Alexander; Sardon, Aetienne; Schär, Fabian; Schüpbach, Christian (30 April 2020). "11. Stablecoins, Digital Currency, and the Future of Money". MIT Works in Progress. doi:10.21428/ba67f642.0499afe0. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b McGrath, Catherine (8 October 2024). "Chinese investors pivot to stocks with potential repercussion for Tether". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Axios Crypto". Axios. 1 August 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  6. ^ a b Kharif, Olga; Nicolle, Emily (31 July 2024). "Tether Stablecoin Issuer Says 2Q Profit Was $1.3 Billion". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Analysis-Tether's $100 billion stokes stablecoin stability concerns". Reuters. Retrieved 29 July 2024 – via Business Reporter.
  8. ^ a b Kharif, Olga (October 2019). "The World's Most-Used Cryptocurrency Isn't Bitcoin". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Biggest Crypto Stablecoin Recovers All Value Lost in 2022 Crash". Bloomberg.com. 1 June 2023. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Hedge Funds Drawn to Crypto's Next Big Short After FTX Reveals Cracks". Bloomberg.com. 14 December 2022. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  11. ^ Ehrlich, Steven (26 July 2024). "Tether's Billionaire CEO Is Afraid Of Wasting This 'Once-In-One-Hundred-Years Opportunity'". Forbes. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  12. ^ Wilson, Tom (10 May 2023). "Cryptoverse-Tether gets a lift from stability doubts". Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  13. ^ J. R. Willett, The Second Bitcoin Whitepaper Archived 6 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine January 2012
  14. ^ Zynis, Dominik (29 November 2013). "A Brief History Of Mastercoin". Omni Blog. Archived from the original on 11 May 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  15. ^ a b Casey, Michael J. (8 July 2014). "Dollar-Backed Digital Currency Aims to Fix Bitcoin's Volatility Dilemma". Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2023 – via www.wsj.com.
  16. ^ Casey, Michael J. (8 July 2014). "Dollar-Backed Digital Currency Aims to Fix Bitcoin's Volatility Dilemma". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  17. ^ "Grant Property Tokens". omniexplorer.info. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  18. ^ a b Shen, Xinmei (30 December 2023). "Hong Kong's stablecoin rules would be 'extremely challenging' to Tether, USDC". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 21 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  19. ^ Casey, Michael (8 July 2014). "Dollar-Backed Digital Currency Aims to Fix Bitcoin's Volatility Dilemma". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  20. ^ Huang, Vicky Ge (18 August 2022). "Biggest Stablecoin Issuer, Tether, Switches Accounting Firm to BDO Italia". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  21. ^ a b Popper, Nathaniel (21 November 2017). "Warning Signs About Another Giant Bitcoin Exchange". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  22. ^ "Tether's path to the spotlight". Financial Times. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  23. ^ Leising, Matthew (30 January 2018). "U.S. Regulators Subpoena Crypto Exchange Bitfinex, Tether". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  24. ^ "Tether FAQ". 24 April 2015. Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  25. ^ a b Vigna, Paul; Russolillo, Steven (12 August 2018). "The Mystery Behind Tether, the Crypto World's Digital Dollar". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018. There isn't hard evidence the cash supporting it exists(subscription required)
  26. ^ Leising, Matthew (24 August 2018). "It's Getting Harder to Pump Up Prices in Cryptocurrency Markets". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  27. ^ Hincks, Joseph (5 September 2017). "Virtually Every Cryptocurrency in the World Is Tanking Right Now". Time. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  28. ^ Hankin, Aaron (15 October 2018). "Bitcoin jumps after credit scare". Market Watch. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  29. ^ Hui, Ada; Foldy, Ben (3 March 2023). "Crypto Companies Behind Tether Used Falsified Documents and Shell Companies to Get Bank Accounts". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  30. ^ "More Tether FUD from WSJ". tether.to. 3 March 2023. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  31. ^ "DOJ investigating Tether execs in bank fraud probe". Fortune. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  32. ^ "CFTC Orders Tether and Bitfinex to Pay Fines Totaling $42.5 Million". CFTC. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  33. ^ Tan, Andrea; Robertson, Benjamin; Leising, Matthew (15 October 2018). "Why Crypto Traders Are So Worried About Tether: QuickTake Q&A". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  34. ^ a b Cuthbertson, Anthony (17 October 2018). "What is tether? Controversial cryptocurrency causes chaos for bitcoin price". The Independent. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  35. ^ a b c d "ORDER INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS PURSUANT TO SECTION 6(c) AND (d) OF THE COMMODITY EXCHANGE ACT, MAKING FINDINGS, AND IMPOSING REMEDIAL SANCTIONS". Commodity Futures Trading Commission. 15 October 2021. Archived from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  36. ^ "Stablecoin Issuer Tether to Make USDT Available at 24,000 ATMs in Brazil". markets.businessinsider.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  37. ^ "Tether CEO defies his critics—and he has a point". Fortune Crypto. 7 December 2023. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  38. ^ a b Browne, Ryan (13 October 2023). "Stablecoin Tether promotes tech chief to CEO, taking over from mysterious crypto leader". CNBC. Archived from the original on 13 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  39. ^ "Setting the record straight on crypto crowdfunding by Hamas". Elliptic. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  40. ^ Foldy, Ben. "From Hamas to North Korean Nukes, Cryptocurrency Tether Keeps Showing Up". WSJ. Archived from the original on 30 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  41. ^ a b Bambysheva, Nina (10 September 2024). "Tether, Tron, And TRM Labs Join Forces To Combat Crypto Crime". Forbes. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  42. ^ "Emmer Presses Treasury Undersecretary Nelson on Erroneous Reports of Crypto Terror Financing". Congressman Tom Emmer. 14 February 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  43. ^ Terrett, Eleanor (16 February 2024). "Treasury deals blow to Elizabeth Warren's anti-crypto crusade". Fox Business. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  44. ^ Browne, Ryan (30 May 2023). "Stablecoin giant Tether to mine bitcoin in Uruguay using renewable energy". CNBC. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  45. ^ გუნდი, Entrepreneur-ის (26 June 2023). "In order to strengthen the Georgian financial market, Tether Operations Limited held meetings with governmental structures and signed a memorandum". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  46. ^ Pan, David; Nicolle, Emily (16 November 2023). "Biggest Stablecoin Issuer Tether Now Wants to Become a Major Bitcoin Miner". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  47. ^ Benrath, Bastian (6 December 2023). "Taxpayers in Swiss City Can Settle Bills With Bitcoin, Tether". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 6 December 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  48. ^ "Lutnick: The Fed Is Staying Higher for Longer". Bloomberg. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  49. ^ Ghosh, Suvashree (27 March 2024). "Tether Is the Most Used Stablecoin in Illicit Crypto Flows, TRM Says". bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  50. ^ "Tether Edu: Global Initiative for Advancing Digital Education". Asia Education Review. 2 February 2024. Archived from the original on 19 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  51. ^ "Tether Says First-Quarter Profit Rose to Record $4.5 Billion". Bloomberg. May 2024. Archived from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  52. ^ Howcroft, Elizabeth (29 April 2024). "Crypto company Tether invests $200 mln in brain-chip maker Blackrock Neurotech". Reuters. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  53. ^ Bambysheva, Nina (9 May 2024). "How Crypto Giant Tether's New CEO Is Remaking The Company For The Apocalypse". Forbes. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  54. ^ "Tether Acquires $100 Million Stake in US-Listed Bitcoin Miner Bitdeer". Bloomberg.com. 31 May 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  55. ^ Berwick, Angus; Salama, Vivian; Foldy, Ben (25 October 2024). "Federal Investigators Probe Cryptocurrency Firm Tether". The Wall Street Journal.
  56. ^ Kharif, Olga; Nicolle, Emily (31 July 2024). "Tether Stablecoin Issuer Says 2Q Profit Was $1.3 Billion". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  57. ^ Griffin, John M.; Shams, Amin (15 June 2020). "Is Bitcoin Really Untethered?". The Journal of Finance. 75 (4): 1913–1964. doi:10.1111/jofi.12903. ISSN 0022-1082. S2CID 229576274.
  58. ^ "Tether Response to Flawed Paper by Griffin and Shams". tether.to. 7 November 2019. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  59. ^ a b Ante, Lennart; Fiedler, Ingo; Strehle, Elias (1 July 2021). "The influence of stablecoin issuances on cryptocurrency markets". Finance Research Letters. 41: 101867. doi:10.1016/j.frl.2020.101867. ISSN 1544-6123.
  60. ^ a b Saggu, Aman (1 October 2022). "The Intraday Bitcoin Response to Tether Minting and Burning Events: Asymmetry, Investor Sentiment, and "Whale Alerts" on Twitter". Finance Research Letters. 49: 103096. doi:10.1016/j.frl.2022.103096. ISSN 1544-6123. S2CID 250082279. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  61. ^ Shaban, Hamza (14 June 2018). "Bitcoin's astronomical rise last year was buoyed by market manipulation, researchers say". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  62. ^ a b Leising, Matthew; Rojanasakul, Mira; Pogkas, Demetrios; Kochkodin, Brandon (29 June 2018). "Crypto Coin Tether Defies Logic on Kraken's Market, Raising Red Flags". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  63. ^ a b krakenfx (1 July 2018). "On Tether: Journalists Defy Logic, Raising Red Flags". Kraken Blog. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  64. ^ Lyons, Richard; Viswanath-Natraj, Ganesh (May 2020). "What Keeps Stablecoins Stable?". National Bureau of Economic Research. Cambridge, MA. doi:10.3386/w27136.
  65. ^ Robinson, Matt; Schoenberg, Tom (20 November 2018). "Bitcoin-Rigging Criminal Probe Focused on Tie to Tether". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  66. ^ "[Behind paywall] Professor Who Rang Vix Alarm Says Tether Used To Manipulate Price of Bitcoin". Bloomberg.com. 13 June 2018. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  67. ^ Evans, Jon (20 August 2018). "What the hell is the deal with Tether?". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  68. ^ a b Kaminska, Izabella (2 October 2017). "Tether's "transparency update" is out". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  69. ^ Williams-Grut, Oscar. "Tether, the troubled cryptocurrency hit by a $31 million hack, has split with its auditors". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 29 December 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  70. ^ "Crypto-currency company reports $31m raid". BBC News. 21 November 2017. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  71. ^ "Order on Motion for Local Rule 37.2 Conference – #247 in In re Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Asset Litigation (S.D.N.Y., 1:19-cv-09236)". CourtListener. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  72. ^ Howcroft, Elizabeth (20 November 2023). "Crypto firm Tether says it has frozen $225 mln linked to human trafficking". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  73. ^ Roush, Ty. "Feds Seize Nearly $9 Million In Cryptocurrency Linked To Romance Scams Amid Human Trafficking Investigation". Forbes. Archived from the original on 22 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  74. ^ Waterman, Shaun (7 December 2023). "U.S. prosecutors call huge crypto fraud seizure a "game changer"". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  75. ^ a b "Elizabeth Warren's new crypto target". POLITICO. 19 December 2023. Archived from the original on 19 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  76. ^ "Feds Nab $1.4M in Crypto from Alleged Tech Support Con Artists in Chicago Crackdown". Hoodline. 9 March 2024. Archived from the original on 19 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  77. ^ a b "Memorandum posted by Tether" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  78. ^ a b Leising, Matthew (20 June 2018). "Tether Hired Former FBI Director's Law Firm to Vet Finances". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  79. ^ Howcroft, Elizabeth; Babu, Juby (5 March 2024). "Stablecoin Tether exceeds $100 bln tokens in circulation". Reuters. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  80. ^ Wilson, Harry (16 January 2024). "Tether's Reserves Do Exist, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Says". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  81. ^ Pan, David (31 October 2023). "Tether Says Its Reserves in Cash, Equivalents Are at the Highest Ever". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  82. ^ a b c d e James, Letitia (25 April 2019). "Attorney General James Announces Court Order Against "Crypto" Currency Company Under Investigation For Fraud". New York State Office of the Attorney General. Archived from the original on 5 October 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  83. ^ a b c d e Larson, Erik; Leising, Matthew; Kharif, Olga (26 April 2019) [25 April 2019]. "Crypto Market Roiled by New Allegations Against Tether, Bitfinex". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  84. ^ a b c d "In the Matter of Investigation by LETITIA JAMES, Attorney General of the State of New York, of iFINEX INC., BFXNA INC., BFXWW INC., TETHER HOLDINGS LIMITED, TETHER OPERATIONS LIMITED, TETHER LIMITED, TETHER INTERNATIONAL LIMITED. SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT" (PDF). Attorney General of the State of New York. 17 February 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  85. ^ Krasuski, Konrad; Kharif, Olga (25 October 2019). "Crypto Capital Official Nabbed in Money Laundering Probe". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  86. ^ "Bitfinex announces loan repayment to Tether". Bitfinex. 5 February 2021. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  87. ^ "Matter of James v iFinex Inc. 2019 NY Slip Op 31403(U)". Justia Law. 16 May 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  88. ^ "Tether and Bitfinex agree to pay $18.5m penalty after New York probe". Financial Times. 23 February 2021. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  89. ^ Leising, Matthew (30 January 2018). "U.S. Regulators Subpoena Crypto Exchange Bitfinex, Tether". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  90. ^ Hoegner, Stuart (30 April 2019). "FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 04/30/2019 10:12 AM INDEX NO.450545/2019 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/30/2019". Scribd. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  91. ^ "Transparency". Tether. 18 July 2022. Archived from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  92. ^ "Memorandum Regarding Consulting Services Performed September 28, 2017 by Friedman LP Accountants and Advisors" (PDF). CTF Assets. 28 September 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  93. ^ "Attorney-Client Communication / Work Product Privileged & Confidential by FSS Law Firm" (PDF). CTF Assets. 15 June 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  94. ^ "Letter from Deltec Bank & Trust Limited" (PDF). CTF Assets. 1 November 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  95. ^ "Independent Accountant's Report by Moore Cayman" (PDF). CTF Assets. 28 February 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  96. ^ "Independent Accountant's Report by Moore Cayman" (PDF). CTF Assets. 31 March 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  97. ^ "Independent Accountant's Report by Moore Cayman" (PDF). CTF Assets. 27 April 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  98. ^ "Independent Accountant's Report by Moore Cayman" (PDF). CTF Assets. 30 June 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  99. ^ "Independent Accountant's Report by MHA Cayman" (PDF). CTF Assets. 30 September 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  100. ^ "Independent Accountant's Report by MHA Cayman" (PDF). CTF Assets. 18 May 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  101. ^ Kelly, Jemima (14 May 2021). "Tether says its reserves are backed by cash to the tune of ... 2.9%". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  102. ^ "Roaring cryptocurrency cacophony drowns out rest of Wall Street". The Japan Times. 14 May 2021. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021. Tether, the cryptocurrency stablecoin that says it's backed one-for-one by fiat currencies, released a reserves breakdown for the first time that showed a large portion in unspecified commercial paper. The company has faced questions over its reserves and whether they were used to manipulate cryptocurrency prices. In February, Tether settled a legal dispute with the New York Attorney General's Office and paid a fine of $18.5 million.
  103. ^ Sigalos, MacKenzie; Browne, Ryan (13 October 2022). "Tether, world's biggest stablecoin, cuts its commercial paper holdings to zero". CNBC. Archived from the original on 19 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tether_(cryptocurrency)&oldid=1257832157"