Puerto Rico’s Noble Bank International, which is known for reportedly opening accounts for USD-backed token Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex, is allegedly searching for a buyer, Bloomberg reports Thursday, October 2. Citing an unnamed person familiar with the case, Bloomberg reports that Noble Bank has lost Tether and Bitfinex as clients, among others, and is currently on the search for a buyer. The bank, which sources tell Bloomberg is no longer profitable, might sell for a price from $5 to $10 million, which is mostly formed by the value of its Puerto Rican license for international financial operations. Noble Bank …

Has the cryptocurrency exchange which you typically trade on already been hacked? If not yet, this is highly possible. Centralized exchanges, which Vitalik Buterin wished would “burn in hell,” can manipulate users' funds and face regular attacks, while decentralized ones seem to have not yet found a balanced compromise between security and usability. At the same time, the experience of traditional banks in ensuring cybersecurity is still not in demand within the crypto industry, which leads to users’ millions of dollars theft or data breach, like in an incident happened to Atlas Quantum account owners on Aug. 25. The top …

An “advanced and robust” trading platform is vowing to help emerging economies embrace cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology — in the hope that inclusion and education will bring economic freedom to the masses. KuBitX claims that there is widespread reluctance to learn about crypto, compounded by a lack of knowledge and resources for those who want to discover more. The company believes this has enabled a small group of traders to dominate the market and even manipulate it at will — resulting in extreme fluctuations in cryptocurrencies. Its white paper cites a study by Cambridge University, which suggests that Africa is …

Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Phil Potter of Bitfinex crypto exchange is resigning from the company, Reuters reports June 22. Potter will be replaced in the interim by Bitfinex CEO, Jean-Louis van der Velde. Potter commented that it was the “natural time for [him] to depart the executive team” while Bitfinex turned to “other strategic international markets.” According to Reuters, he referenced “new opportunities” to come, but did not specify what they would be. Bitfinex is the 4th largest crypto exchange by trade volume, according to Coinmarketcap, and shares management with Tether, a company that issues a digital tokens pegged to …

Tether’s (USDT) long-contested assertion that its digital currency is backed by the appropriate amount of dollar holdings has been seemingly confirmed, Bloomberg reports June 20. According to an interview with Tether’s general counsel Stuart Hoegner, law firm Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP had access to two of Tether’s bank accounts for weeks and released the amount of dollar holdings as of June 1, although not as part of an official audit. The bank accounts will not be named due to privacy concerns, Hoegner notes, adding that the firm had access to banks statements and employees, as well as contact with …

Yet further concerns surrounding the impact of Tether (USDT) and Bitcoin (BTC) futures on the leading cryptocurrency’s fortunes were raised on CNBC, Wednesday June 13th. As CNBC notes, Bitcoin futures have sunk 55 percent this year, reaching their lowest levels since February. Weighing in on the controversies surrounding allegations that Tether (USDT) is being used as a shorting mechanism by institutional players on the BTC futures markets, Brian Stutland, CIO of Equity Armor Investments, dismissed the idea as “far-fetched,” saying: “I know there’s a lot of talk out there about [BTC price] manipulation by some professor who has probably never …

Tether (USDT) has once again become the source of criticism after a new study blamed it for Bitcoin price manipulation in 2017, The New York Times reports Wednesday, June 13. A paper released June 13 by John M. Griffin and Amin Shams of the University of Texas suggests that transaction patterns show Tether was “used to provide price support and manipulate cryptocurrency prices.” Half of the Bitcoin price rise in December 2017, when the cryptocurrency reached all-time highs around $20,000, was explicitly due to Tether and issuer Bitfinex, the researchers claim. “Using algorithms to analyze the blockchain data, we find …

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has refused a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for a release of the subpoenas allegedly issued last year to cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and token issuer Tether, Coindesk reports Wednesday, June 6. Bitfinex and Tether share a CEO, Jan Ludovicus van der Velde, and the two entities had created controversy last fall over alleged price manipulation of Tether. The two companies reportedly received subpoenas from US regulators on Dec 6, 2017, with the impetus for the subpoenas still unclear. Tether has also since been under some scrutiny from the crypto community after they dissolved …

The price of Ethereum (ETH) has fallen today, May 28, with tech site TrustNodes blaming the drop on a large sale of ETH on crypto exchange Bitfinex that they attribute to EOS. Crypto Twitter persona WhalePanda also weighed in with a similar opinion about EOS’s role in today’s ETH sell-off: Wondering who just ragedumped $ETH on @bitfinex. Didn't $EOS still have a lot of ETH and they were using Finex before. pic.twitter.com/l1Hps2jloJ — WhalePanda (@WhalePanda) May 28, 2018 Ethereum is currently trading around $515, down 8.49 percent over a 24 hour period at press time. Earlier this month, TrustNodes reported …

The controversial stablecoin Tether generated $250 million worth of new USDT tokens on May 18, according to Omni Explorer. Tether is the company that issues the so-called stablecoins USDT, which it claims are backed at 1:1 ratio by US dollars. Tether has been criticized for its lack of transparency after it broke ties with auditing firm Friedman LLP before an official audit could be conducted. With a near monopoly on stablecoins, the total supply of Tether tokens has now risen to 2.5 bln, and some critics find it hard to believe that all of those tokens are backed by US …

Cryptocurrency trading platform Bitfinex has recently distributed a letter to certain users, saying that they are required to disclose their tax information, which the exchange may share with the government, according to a statement from the exchange on Twitter May 17. We have not sent this message to all users. We have deliberately targeted users that we believe have an obligation to self-disclose. If a user has _not_ received a message from us, she need _not_ self-certify anything to us at this time. — Bitfinex (@bitfinex) May 17, 2018 The exchange, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), …

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision. The inner workings of Tether have been under constant scrutiny and they’re in the spotlight again after issuing 300 mln new Tether tokens last week. To understand why Tether has been the subject of controversy for the past six months, one should remember how this cryptocurrency works. According to Tether, USDT tokens are “backed’ by US Dollars in a 1:1 ratio. In the last six months, Tether have been constantly accused of not having …