Tether has been one of the most controversial topics in the cryptocurrency community over the last two years — and things have come to a head over the past few weeks. The wider crypto community has been skeptical of the stablecoin and its claims that it was operating legitimately, due to concerns around its reserve policy. Stablecoins are centralized cryptocurrencies that are typically pegged to a fiat currency like the United States dollar or valuable commodities like oil or gold. Tether (USDT) claimed to be backed by the U.S. Dollar at a 1:1 ratio. For the last two years, industry …

The New York Attorney General cannot bring the full force of its court order against cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin Tether (USDT), cryptocurrency news media outlet CoinDesk reported, quoting a judge on May 6. Following submission of a refute from lawyers representing the co-defendants, New York Supreme Court judge Joel M. Cohen decided the parties should try to resolve their dispute and submit a refined argument. The Attorney General had accused Bitfinex of losing control of $850 million under suspicious circumstances, subsequently using sister company Tether’s reserves to temporarily fill the gap. “What I would suggest you both do is …

The operator of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin Tether (USDT) is planning to vacate the court order that accuses it of an $850 million funds loss, a document confirmed on May 5. IFinex, which received scrutiny from the New York Attorney General late last month, is now questioning the authority’s legal basis for its accusations. Cryptocurrency markets tumbled on April 26 after the case went public, with Bitfinex alleged to have lost control of $850 million sent to a third party. The exchange, the Attorney General claims, then used USDT reserves to plug its losses. Subsequently, lawyers from Tether confirmed …

Market data resource CoinMarketCap (CMC) has excluded Bitfinex’s price for bitcoin (BTC) from its global average, its website showed on May 6. The embattled exchange’s BTC price was $5,986.60 at press time — almost $300 higher than the current market rate of about $5,692. An asterisk has been placed next to its price on the CMC website to indicate its exclusion. Explaining why some crypto prices and trading volumes are excluded, CMC’s website states: “Some prices are manually excluded from the average, denoted by an asterisk (*) on the markets tab if the price does not seem indicative of a …

Top Stories This Week Fractional Reserve Stablecoin Tether Only 74% Backed by Fiat Currency, Say Lawyers According to documents released by USD stablecoin tether’s (USDT) lawyers, the company behind the stablecoin only has enough fiat reserves to back a little less than three-quarters of its existing supply — 74%. Tether executives had previously publicly promised that each tether was backed one-to-one to the USD, a claim that has been disproven by the lawyers’ document release. The need to release the figures comes from the recent claims by the U.S. attorney general in New York that cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, which shares …

The New York State Attorney General (NYAG) Letitia James has requested the disclosure of documents concerning an alleged deal made between cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin operator Tether. The NYAG’s memorandum of law was filed on May 3. The memorandum of law calls for more transparency and claims “that Bitfinex and Tether misled their clients and investors.” The statement also explains why the Office of the State Attorney General feels the need to request said documents: “While that and other discrepancies do not change the core issues in this case [...] they only heighten the OAG’s [Office of the Attorney …

Zhao Dong, a shareholder of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, has released new promotional material detailing the exchange’s upcoming initial exchange offering (IEO) for up to $1 billion. The information was shared in a tweet from Dong on May 4. The document, allegedly released by iFinex — the company behind Bitfinex and Tether (USDT) — announces the availability of up to 1 billion USDT worth of the exchange’s tokens, dubbed LEO, for purchase. The token described in the marketing document — which specifies that it is not a white paper — is intended to be the utility token at the heart of …

Crypto exchange Bitfinex shareholder Zhao Dong has revealed details of the company’s reported plans to issue a native exchange token, which he claims will launch via a $1 billion initial exchange offering (IEO) in the coming days. According to a report from crypto news outlet CoinDesk on May 1, the Chinese bitcoin (BTC) billionaire posted to a public chat on local messenger WeChat on Wednesday, outlining that the sale will offer a total supply of 1 billion tokens, priced at $1 apiece, with a minimum buy-in of $1 million. Zhao — who runs a major Chinese BTC over-the-counter trading desk …

Cryptocurrency automated teller machine (ATMs) operator CoinFlip has postponed support for the stablecoin tether (USDT). The company announced the development in a tweet on May 1. CoinFlip initially revealed that it will start listing Tron-powered stablecoin USDT at over 180 CoinFlip’s ATMs on April 30. However, in about 24 hours CoinFlip posted an update, saying that it has postponed USDT listing “until a later time.” The company noted in the tweet that it will still work together with Tron to provide customers with the cash-to-tron option. Commenting on the company’s decision, CoinFlip CEO Daniel Polotsky told Cointelegraph: “CoinFlip's number one …

The April 30 indictment of two individuals on multiple counts — including bank fraud and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business — reveals an apparent connection to the shadow banking services that were used in two recent high-profile crypto exchange controversies. The indictment — charging Arizona resident Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef, a resident of Tel Aviv, Israel — was announced in a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on April 30. According to the SDNY announcement — published alongside an unsealed indictment document from the Department of Justice — …

The company behind USD stablecoin Tether (USDT) only has enough cash to back three-quarters of its increasing supply, its lawyers confirmed in documents released on April 30. As part of an ongoing legal process involving the New York Attorney General, Zoe Phillips of law firm Morgan Lewis said that at the time of writing, 74% of Tether’s reserves had USD and equivalent backing. The figure falls short of previous promises given by Tether executives, specifically that every USDT token had full fiat backing, something a bank statement appeared to confirm in December last year. “In fact, Tether’s reserves of cash …

The world’s largest stock exchange, Nasdaq, announced that it has introduced XRP Liquid Index (XRRLX), a new XRP index, to its global data service. The news was announced in a post on its website published on April 29. Per the announcement, the development is part of Nasdaq’s data dissemination partnership with cryptocurrency analytics company Brave New Coin. The company will reportedly send its real-time XRP index level information on the Nasdaq Global Index Data Service SM (GIDS). In a separate announcement, Brave New Coin noted: “The XRPLX sources data from only the most liquid exchanges by volume and order-book depth …