https://www.coindesk.com/tether-confirms-relationship-auditor-dissolved/ The USDT/USD price on Kraken is currently $0.978 (2.2% discount!), and it is certainly not done falling. The BTC/USD (REALLY USDT) price on Bitfinex is $400 higher than on GDAX, with a staggering $350 premium on Binance for BTC/USDT. It's barely chugging along on GDAX. This is only going to get much, much worse very quickly. IF you can get your cryptos out of exchanges with USDT and into GEMINI OR GDAX and sell for real USD, do so ASAP. I do not know if anyone is propping up the price of Tether on Kraken, but if they are, they can only keep it up for so long. I cashed out to GDAX, got the hell out of Binance. Please don't get caught holding the Tether shitbag. You won't be able to cash them out to real USD, but you can certainly try: https://wallet.tether.to/app/#!/signup I truly feel sorry for the chaps over at reddit.com/r/Bitfinex, a lot of people are going to get burned. I hope more get out in time.

EDITS: Updated prices, posted when the price of the "stable" scam-coin Tether (USDT) was at $0.9963 on Kraken to warn people. ALSO, side note, it is possible cryptos could go up for a while as the price on the USDT exchanges go up as some people don't notice the difference and think the price is breaking out and hop on. But eventually, trading might get halted or the selling pressure overtakes ignorant retail buyers.

Hats off to Bitfinex'ed--s/he had this fraud figured out months before anyone else was looking. And how in the world did s/he think to check the Paradise Papers to see that Bitfinex and Tether are owned by the same people? What a champ.

The more and more I research Tether I am blown away everyone just tries to ignore the issue. If you post anything other then positive news on any other subreddit you get downvoted right away. . . It is like everyone sees $$$ and don't want to know the truth.

I want to get back into the cryptomarket, I really do. I been around for awhile in this space and I pulled everything out until this Tether mess is over with. A bloodbath is coming and no one even cares! It makes me so frustrated. Tether is going to destroy a good thing we have going here.

How are you guys dealing with this? How can we spread the truth without sounding like a crazy homeless guy on the corner of the street yelling the world is ending!

I refuse to invest in this toxic market, even though I loved my coins dearly and have made decent money already.

Has this tether news physically sidelined anyone else? I miss my portfolio.. but this tether shit just can’t possibly end well... right?

I would like to share some alarming signs of Bitcoin price manipulation.

Bitcoin price is about 10 times of what it was a year ago. The exchange that decisively sets Bitcoin price is Bitfinex, a secretive institution with unknown beneficiary structure and place of organization.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cs0oGXQWAAAqMRZ.jpg

Bitfinex had its wire services suspended by Wells Fargo in April. To resume trading, Bitfinex enlisted the help of Tether, another company with unknown beneficiary structure and place of organisation, but based on announcements is likely under common share holder control with Bitfinex. Tether sells crypto-tokens known as USD Tethers, or USDTs, that are purportedly backed by an equal number of US dollars. In other words, each USDT is a digital good priced at USD 1.00.

Despite the promise of "100% reserve" and the vague reference to "24×7 access to your funds" on Tether’s website, there is no contractual right, either tacit or express, for one USDT to be redeemed for one US dollar. It is probably through this legal construct that Tether hopes to characterise its USDTs as digital goods and not "convertible" virtual currency covered by FinCEN regulations.

The invention of USDTs led to the proliferation of numerous crypto-currency exchanges. Examples include Bitfinex, Binance, HitBTC, KKex, Poloniex, and YoBit. Instead of providing crypto-to-fiat trading pairs, these "coin-to-coin" exchanges offer crypto-to-tether trading exclusively. Therefore, USDTs not only help these exchanges remove the need for formal banking arrangement, but also enables these exchanges to organise in lesser known jurisdictions (e.g., the Republic of Seychelles) and operate outside of the regulation and supervision of major economies. Most of these exchanges claim to screen-off visitors from the United States and other countries with laws on coin-to-coin trading, but the screen-off is often perfunctory. In almost all cases, the screen can be defeated with a simple mouse click.

It is doubtful that these exchanges perform meaningful due diligence beyond identity verification to combat money laundering, financing of terrorism, and corruption of politically exposes persons. Bitfinex, for example, requires no identity verification at all for most trading activities and imposes no trading amount limits on unverified accounts. The enablement of these exchanges where rampant money laundering is possible is outside of the scope of this note. Instead, I would like to bring to your attention the distinct possibility that Bitfinex, as the likely controller of Tether, is a bad actor.

Strong circumstantial evidence suggests that Bitfinex is creating USDTs out of thin air to prop up Bitcoin prices. Namely, Bitfinex is likely acting as a central bank that issues a fiat money called USDTs. The sole mandate of this central bank is to enrich itself through market manipulation.

https://i.imgur.com/b1Pdsq9.jpg

The first image (above) illustrates how mysterious amounts of USDTs were minted and injected into Bitfinex at precise moments when a crash seemed imminent.

https://i.imgur.com/jAyPlF8.jpg

The second image (above) illustrates a strong correlation (but admittedly not causation) between the total amount of USDTs in circulation and Bitcoin price.

Bitfinex released an internal memo in September to allay concerns that USDTs might have been created at will. The memo purportedly shows that Tether maintained sufficient US dollars to match all USDTs in circulation as of a day in September. The memo, however, is of no probative value. Among other strange things, the author of the memo didn’t verify with banks (names redacted) that account balances from Tethers were in fact correct, couldn’t promise that the balances weren’t overnight borrowings for purposes of producing the memo, and couldn’t promise that Tether indeed had access to those funds.

I therefore urge you to consider the possibility that the current price of Bitcoin is the result of Bitfinex’s manipulation and may collapse when regulators take action.

For example, Tether is almost certainly an administrator of virtual currency — it centrally puts into and withdraws from circulation USDTs, a virtual currency squarely intended as a substitute for real currency as admitted by Tether in the internal memo.

Tether has nominally registered as a money transmitter with FinCEN, but it is unclear if they fulfill any of the BSA filing requirements (e.g., filing SARs).2 As a company, Tether’s USDTs enables large crypto-currency exchanges (including US-based exchanges like Poloniex) to exist and powers trades thereon in the amount of millions every day. So it wouldn’t be surprising if FinCEN eventually decides to enforce its rules against Tether as it did against Liberty Reserve.

Further, CFTC approved recently various swap execution facilities, designated contract markets and derivative clearing organizations with Bitcoin flavor. And the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is expected to launch cash-settled futures on Bitcoin soon. Manipulation of Bitcoin prices referenced by these entities is prosecutable by the CFTC, an agency with broad statutory authority to prosecute manipulation of commodity prices under the Commodity Exchange Act (including Section 753 as amended by the Dodd-Frank Act.).

Although none of these CFTC-registered entities are currently including Bitfinex in the calculation of their Bitcoin reference rates (CME used to), it is well understood and could be easily established (partially because of the transparency of Bitcoin blockchain) that Bitfinex-initiated price movements ripple through all exchanges via manual and automated trading.3 CFTC could then have grounds to investigate Bitfinex’s possible manipulation of Bitcoin price via Tether.

If you are considering investing into Bitcoin at this time, please look closer at the exchanges involved in price discovery and give it a second thought.

"Bitcoin Tumbles Towards $10k After Bitfinex, Tether Subpoena'd"

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-30/cryptos-are-getting-crushed-again

This is a rhetorical question of course. If Tether were actually sitting with 2B in the bank, they would be stupid to not buy back all tether currently selling for less than $1. It would be free profit for them. In reality, the fact that the price has already dropped below $1 means that their peg has failed, even if they try to inject a little capital to prop it back up.

The only reason the currency still has any value is because crypto markets are much slower than actual markets. It takes months for the currency of an obvious ponzi scheme like bcc to crash. Even now some idiots are still willing to buy it. The same is true for tether-there are idiots thinking they can profit from buying it for 98 cents when the mere fact that it has dropped to 98 cents means the peg has already broken.

For those of you who have not heard already, Tether just printed 86 million Euro Tokens a day ago which I imagine is supposed to be pegged to the Euro like the USDT is supposedly pegged to the USD. Considering that 1 Euro is roughly 1.23 USD, this is equivalent to about $106 million dollars injected into the market. JP Morgan estimated a while back that the total injected fiat was around $10 billion USD with the market cap of $600 billion dollars which is about 1/60th of the presented total market cap. If we apply the same ratio to the present value of $380 billion market, cap, we get about $6.3 billion of total invested money (give or take a billion for errors let's just say). That means $106M worth of EURT that was printed and added to the market today equated almost 2% of the total invested money (106M/6300M = 0.0168). This is already on top of the $2.24 B worth of USDT that's already in full circulation which has been in the bright spotlight for the past week as its cesation in printing marked continuous decline in the BTC price. The math is coarse, and there are many assumptions taken for granted to come up with these numbers. However, even with this limited information and figures, you can see that it paints a pretty scary picture of how much this market is influenced and upheld by something we are simply told to believe in because "it is" If EURT was indeed used to pump the price of BTC in the same way USDT is accused of, then it does explain a very sharp boost (yes, even with the bullish news on the SEC hearing) and how it hung just above the 8K line for a prolonged time despite the downward pressure and the bearish trend we've seen so far since January.

They were incredibly selective and successful this time in pumping the market for a number of reasons.

1. Since there is too many eyes watching USDT printing, they knew that they couldn't print additional USDT without alarms going off on all fronts, possible triggering further panic. Hence the EURT.

2. They timed the printing so it hurled the price farther up with the momentum that they already had from the rebound + the hearing.

3. Everyone was distracted with the hearing and felt euphoric that everything started going up after the prices tanked for a full month.

4. I highly suspect that there are numerous bots and paid advocates for Bitfinex & Tether running rampant in many internet outlets such as Reddit and Twitter which works in conjunction with misinformed and ignorant people who'd label anything non-bullish for the market as 'FUD'. Virtually all the posts submitted detailing the EURT printing on /r/cryptocurrency has been downvoted into oblivion despite having valid discussions and threads going on. Also worthy to note the Twitter account of Bitfinex'd was temporarily shadowbanned supposedly from mass reportings.

This is a legitimate concern and I imagine that they are trying to keep the price floated so they can squeeze out as much money as they can from the market while it lasts. It scares me that this is still an ongoing thing, it scares me that most people still don't seem to know enough or care about this potential atom bomb in the heart of the market. If what many people suspect is truly the case for Tether, and it is highly probable that it is, it needs to be rid of completely. The sooner this happens, the better will it be for the crypto community as we can start to see what an organic growth would look like, which many of us have not seen up to this date. Everyone is so quick to dismiss concerning posts and label Bitfinex'd as deluded, but I all I've seen so far is blindly labeling it as FUD and ad hominem attacks on Bitfinex with no thought-out and thorough arguments to counter his claims. Before you label me as a fudder, ask yourself: what if you are wrong and what would be the implications if that were the case?

Tether is looking like it may be on it's last leg's now. It will soon be dead and with it many dreams. But there is still hope!

I was sitting in front of the TV overfed and tired with my mind wandering. Christmas and Tether were two of the subjects that came to mind and suddenly I realized Tether is just like Father Christmas. Every kid knows if you don't believe they you don't get any prezzies. The magic dies. The numbers don't add up: how can you get those billions of presents into that small sledge and it would have to travel faster than light to make all those deliveries. Tether is the same!

There is too much analysis here and cold hard facts. They will kill Tether. It's magic internet money and if we want Lambos and hookers and pots of coke then we have to believe and everything will be ok. Crypto’s will go to $1000000 and John MacAfee won't eat his penis.

Say with me: I BELIEVE!

I'm off to buy Tether now. It will be ok.

https://twitter.com/tetherprinter/status/955771909110562817

Will the btc price rise in the next hour? Place your bets now

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the shillbots for Bitfinex and Tether are out in full force these days.

Thought a little PSA was necessary for anyone naive enough to believe the people telling you that Tether/Bitfinex are fine. These folks are either:

1. being paid,

2. or have another arrangement with Tether/Bitfinex, in which it will directly harm them to see Tether or Bitfinex fail.

Here's how to spot these guys:

They will immediately declare that any concerns are FUD.

They will also present false narratives, such as these:

• The auditors saw that Tether had 1-1 backed reserves.

• It's normal for auditors to back out of doing an audit.

• Tether never promises a 1-1 USD backing.

• They (the shiller) have never personally had an issue with Bitfinex.

• (Edit) They will use a market cap claim in regards to Tether's inability to effect the wider market.

These are flat out lies, and as soon as anyone says anything even close to that, it should raise numerous red flags.

After you spot their false arguments, go ahead and click their account profiles. For the most part these shills have accounts that are 3-4 months old (or less) and almost exclusively post about Tether/Bitfinex. Occasionally they'll pretend they have a real job, or care about things like computer games. This is so the account looks real.

Notice, too, that they never provide proof for a single claim they make. Be observant - often they have long, diluted monologues that can confuse someone who isn't familiar with money supply, margin buying, and inflationary/deflationary practices. Ignore this and ask for facts.

Finally, I propose a community solution: I've been going out of my way to find these guys and I've started to accumulate a list. I follow them so I can point out their fallacies every time they announce them. I also personally message them to let them know I will be present anytime they make their proclamations.

Generally, this shuts them up for a few days.

If you'd like to see my list, I'd be happy to provide the users I've discovered thus far. If anyone knows of any shills, please PM me their username so I can add them to my list.

I'm tired of people ignoring this problem and listening to shills. I understand not everyone wants to put this time and effort into bringing down a despicable corporation, but I do. Again, forward me any info you have so I can help the community grow.

Thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPu9i2ICdfI&feature=push-u&attr_tag=NYlEtj0p1qfahSQC-6

https://www.kraken.com/charts

Check it out, most of the Buy offers have now disappeared, leaving barely any left and closing the one conversion method of Tether to USD that people had. Just a few hundred thousand dollars left which will quickly be exhausted at this rate. This is a strong sign that the full exit scam is in progress, besides the fact the market is completely collapsing.

Disclosure: I have no proof for anything in this article, it is pure speculation.

With the Tether marketcap crossing 2 billion USD, their latest attempt at auditing ending in a break up and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission sending subpoenas to both Bitfinex and Tether, it is time to think about some end game scenarios for Tether.

There are basically three ways of landing Tether:

1. Regular landing

2. Catastrophic crash

3. Belly landing

Let us talk a bit about the probabilities here:

1. A regular landing scenario would imply Bitfinex gives up on Tether nicely. This could be caused by pressure from regulators, lack of customers or basically anything. No more Tethers are issued and the outstanding Tether is slowly but surely exchanged 1:1 into US dollars. Bitfinex actually has full reserves just as they claim.

This scenario is unlikely because of the audit situation. If Tether actually had full financial backing of the outstanding coins as they claim, then an audit would be both both quick and easy.

2) A catastrophic crash scenario implies Bitfinex/Tether has no control over the end game scenario. The whole construction goes spiralling down resulting in a spectacular financial explosion.

This scenario is also unlikely because it would come with investigation and most likely criminal charges against the leadership of Tether/Bitfinex. These people are already rich, they have no need to spend their time undergoing weeks of interogation, months in various courts and possible years in jail. That is no way to spend your time or your money, and that is why a totally catastrophic crash is unlikely.

3) A belly landing scenario also includes Bitfinex giving up on Tether voluntarily. The process is however so full of FUD that the Tether last hours are chaotic. There is wild speculation and Tether trades significantly below 1:1 to the US dollar.

In this scenario Tether is backed by fractional reserves just like any other fiat. There is however enough backing to ensure Tether stays liquid, the profit of Bitfinex and the efficiency of the banking system ensures that. This is by far the most likely scenario because it is the most profitable one.

Imagine this: if some significant regulatory body issues a cease and decist letter to Tether today, Tether would in principle have to pay back 2 billion US Dollar to Tether holders. Do they want to do this? No of course not, there is no profit in that. The most profitable end game scenario for Tether is to continue to do what they do now - print more Tethers at breakneck speed - and when the game is up preside over a messy, FUD filled exit making Tether trade at significantly below 1:1 against the dollar.

Get it? Issue 2 billion Tether at 1:1 with the US dollar. Buy them back at 0.9. That is 200 million dollars clean legal profit. In this way Tether gets to profit without going to jail for it, because all they did was to abide by the cease and desist letter and buy back the coins they had issued. It is not their problem that some customers out of FUD accepted lower than 1:1 exchange ratio.

This also fully explains the audit situation. Tether does not want to be successfully audited. They want the controversy. They want to be mistrusted. They want FUD. It is only by creating this huge latent mistrust they can create the right environment for a semi-controlled exit that will not land them in jail and will make them a shipload of legal profit at the same time.

Sorry for wall of text.

Bitcoin bottomed out @ around $6000 in Jan and has bounced to $11500 mid Feb.

as of this writing, 4 of the top 7 trading pairs are fiat pairs, and they are on par or beating the 3 other USDT pairs in terms of price.

I'm not sure how many Tehters have been printed in the last 2 weeks, but I haven't seen any threads on here about it... So I'm guessing nothing substantial has been issued, otherwise you guys would be crying about it (if I am wrong here, let me know, I did see something about a Euro Tether? or an erc20 Tether being printed last week? didn't look into it that much, but if its something that matters, I'm all ears)

So whats the deal here Target Pro. Your boy Bitinex'd claimed that anything above $1200 (the amount he sold his BTC at) was a fake price. But here we have an almost doubling of the BTC price in the last 3 weeks with no Tether being printed?

How much longer are you gonna keep your troll going? I know Bitfinex'd/Atlas/SockAccountYou is making money of this FUD campaign with donations. If you aren't the same person, is he kicking you a bit for your work?

Once again your theory has been shot to shit... I'm hoping you guys eventually issue apologies... you owe direct apologies to Tether and Bitfinex for creating lies in an attempt to slander them.

Also, don't dare bring up the fact that they having released any kind of audit yet. That was never your main claim until you started being proven wrong about the Tether/BTC price pump thing. When your theory was shot to shit, THEN you guys switched to 'deeer when audit'.

Alright boys, I'll check back here when I have time. BTC is moving up nice and slow... Hopefully you buy back in soon Target so you don't miss out on these gains.