Exchanges

Bitfinex trading volumes spike up as DoJ opens Tether probe

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is reportedly looking into whether Tether, the issuer of the USD-pegged cryptocurrency stablecoin Tether (USDT), engaged in illegal market manipulation to prop up the Bitcoin price, during the bull run of late 2017.

Federal prosecutors, who had already opened a broader investigation into the cryptocurrency market, have now narrowed in on Tether and Bitfinex (the crypto exchange giant with whom it shares a management team)

The DoJ has also been reportedly looking into spoofing (this is the use of large volumes of fake orders to influence market prices).

Despite this Bitfinex trading volumes have also increased from a couple hundred million dollars a day, to back well over a billion a day – given the recent return of volatility to the markets.

According to data from Stablecoinswar.com, Tether (USDT) still has a market cap close to $1.75 billion. That’s 10 times bigger than its closest stablecoin competitor True USD (TUST)

Solvency – don’t trust, verify?

On 2nd November, coinrivet brought you the story of how Bitfinex’s native stablecoin, USD-Tether, had confirmed banking arrangement with Bahama-based Deltec Bank & Trust. This included issuing a signed letter from Deltec Bank, confirming that it had $1.8 billion in its portfolio.

Another proof of reserve came on 7th October, where Bitifnex published its cold storage wallet addresses for its major holdings in BTC, ETH, EOS and ERC20 tokens. At the time of writing, the assets are valued at just over $1.15 billion.

 

Nawaz Sulemanji

Nawaz has been hooked on crypto since buying his first Bitcoin’s in 2013. After studying maths in London, Nawaz initially spent the first eight years of his career working globally across corporate supply chain’s before transitioning into the decentralised finance industry as a margin-trader and consultant. He’s a fan of open-blockchains because “it enables self-sovereignty”.

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

dRPC to Premiere Alice in Nodeland Short Film at ETHDenver

Denver, Colorado, 24th February 2025, Chainwire

3 months ago

Open AGI Summit Set to Return to ETHDenver with AWS Startups as an Official Partner

Denver, Colorado, 20th February 2025, Chainwire

3 months ago

Singularity Finance Announces Collaboration with Particle Network

Dubai, UAE, 27th January 2025, Chainwire

4 months ago

Here is why Bitcoin is still a lucrative investment in 2024

Those who enter the market at this time may be surprised to hear that Bitcoin…

6 months ago

Zircuit Launches ZRC Token: Pioneering the Next Era of Decentralized Finance

George Town, Grand Cayman, 22nd November 2024, Chainwire

6 months ago