https://tether.to/tether-reopens-account-verification-and-di...
> This update allows the immediate withdrawal of Tether to fiat (1:1), with the ability to acquire coming soon.
So Tether still backs the USDT 1:1 by fiat while Bitfinex just becomes another trading market. Other exchanges already have USDT markets that change in value.
This event is not the "de-tethering of Tether." It is returning the responsibility of backing USDT to Tether.
We don't have any evidence Tether has hard currency backing its Tether. We do know Tether and Bitfinex are under investigation in multiple jurisdictions, and that brokerage deposits are less protected than obligations marketed as being freely redeemable or secured (as Tether was). At the end of the day, Bitfinex and Tether are intrinsically and ambiguously linked, a combination that does not inspire confidence.
Tether does not back 1:1, they charge 3% if you can even register to "redeem" so at best it's 1.00 : 0.97
Also worth noting, Tether has removed any mention of audits on their website:
Current FAQ: https://tether.to/faqs/
Is Tether transparent?
Yes. Tether’s platform is built to be fully transparent at all times.
Every tether is backed 100% by its original currency.
Yes. Tether’s platform is built to be fully transparent at all times and is regularly audited.
Every tether is backed 100% by its original currency.We have some evidence: The CFTC subpoena was about a year ago, and it is hard to imagine that they would not have
1. Subpoenaed bank statements to support the backing, and
2. Let tether continue operation if the support was lacking.
So it's possible that the CFTC was snookered somehow, but they're not known for being patsies when it comes to obvious fraud.
The investigations for manipulation are more complicated, and it is easy to imagine that it takes a year to iron that out, but a simple balance check? Hard to imagine that's not already complete.
If Tether's withdrawing platform is for real, that should collapse to ~0%.
Remember, the longer you stay the more money you can lose
This will be fun to watch
Any Tether deposits initiated before 14:30:00 UTC on the 27th of November will be credited to the user's fiat wallet balances
"Cashing out" means receiving hard currency. It appears Bitfinex plans on converting Tether balances into Bitfinex brokerage balances. This still depends on Bitfinex paying out dollars for its obligations, regardless of whether they're cryptocurrency Tethers or broker balance entries in a spreadsheet.
What does "support" mean? I thought it was notoriously difficult to convert Tether into hard currency.
> all USD and EUR deposits will be denominated in the fiat currency
Will previous deposits, which were held as Tether, be converted into hard currency? (Bitfinex has recently been having issues redeeming hard currency deposits [1].)
The cynic in me sees Bitfinex attempting to convert Tether, a secured redeemable obligation, into brokerage deposits, unsecured obligations in most jurisdictions.
[1] https://www.coindesk.com/for-bitfinex-users-dollar-withdrawa...
They were subpoenaed, but so far no charges have been brought against them. It also looks like they recently changed banks, with Tether now using Deltec [1][2], a 72-year old Bahamas-based institution registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the US Department of the Treasury.
As far as that goes, I think it's a good thing that Tether has established a relationship with a reputable institution. It also shows that they are committed to anti-money laundering.
As far as fees go, it looks like unless you've got more than $1 million in USDT, you're looking at 0.4%-1% withdrawal fees. Meh. I mean, doesn't sound terrible...and honestly, it seems less and less likely now that USDT will crash the market (not that it needs any help with that at the moment).
[1] https://tether.to/tether-banking-relationship-announced/ [2] https://www.deltecbank.com/
https://thebitcoinnews.com/brazil-tether039s-new-banking-par...
https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/tethers-new-banker-in-the-cr...
Not weighing in on it either way, but issues with Tether have been a sword of Damocles of the crypto market for a while. Bitfinex'd on Twitter[0] has all sorts of speculation if you want to get into it.
This promise is a lie. This announcement walks back the lie.
This is very important for the cryptocurrency ecosystem, because Bitfinex is a large exchange, liquidity provider, counterparty, and (I strongly suspect) lender. If they are factually insolvent or fail in a bank run, that is a Very Big Deal, at least insofar as anyone cares about cryptocurrency.
They've also removed (false) claims about being audited from their FAQs section[0]
[0] https://tether.to/faqs/ vs https://web.archive.org/web/20180628141947/https://tether.to...
Bitfinex has had withdrawal problems and banking problems in the past, but to my knowledge the only recent problems have been around times when USD/USDT has disconnected, largely due to delays in Bitfinex's fiat withdrawal pipeline that have all since been resolved.
BTC withdraw etc. seems to be working fine but not USD.
This could be because they want to better take advantage of the difference in price themselves, knowing that their books are good and that the token is backed- or, following the narrative, it's because the token isn't 1:1 backed. Either way, this further erodes trust in Tether
There were a ton of articles in 2017 speculating that the bubble was being directly inflated by USDT printing and when the peg broke BTC would crash[0]. Now that those things have happened - silence.
[0]: http://fortune.com/2017/12/05/bitcoin-btc-price-usd-tether-l...