Plunging cryptocurrency prices are not the only consequence of this week’s FTX-induced crypto contagion. Significant market volatility this week induced by the collapse of the FTX exchange has impacted stablecoins with many of them de-pegging temporarily. According to CryptoQuant senior analyst Julio Moreno, nearly all leading stablecoins have experienced some level of peg volatility this week. The world’s dominant stablecoin, Tether (USDT) temporarily declined to $0.97 on Nov. 10 as redemptions surpassed $600 million over the past two days, he noted. CoinGecko currently reports that USDT is still slightly below its peg, trading at $0.998 at the time of writing. …

In what it hails as an effort to be transparent, Digital Currency Group’s market maker and lending subsidiary, Genesis Trading, revealed that its derivatives business has around $175 million worth of funds locked away in an FTX trading account. Genesis shared the news in a Nov. 10 tweet thread, in which the firm clarified that the locked funds would “not impact our market-making activities.” As part of our goal in providing transparency around this week’s market events, the Genesis derivatives business currently has ~$175M in locked funds in our FTX trading account. This does not impact our market-making activities. — …

Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings Limited published its latest quarterly attestation on Nov. 10, highlighting the “extremely liquid” nature of its assets at a time when crypto markets were reeling from news of FTX’s apparent insolvency. Eighty-two percent of Tether’s reserves were held in cash, cash equivalents and other short-term deposits as of Sept. 30, 2022, the company disclosed in its quarterly attestation report. Tether’s exposure to commercial paper — a form of short-term corporate debt with a higher risk profile — has fallen to just 0.07% of its holdings. The company claims to have incurred no losses from winding down …

According to blockchain transaction data provided by WhaleAlert.io on Nov. 10, Tether appears to have frozen 46,360,701 USDT ($46,274,472) owned by troubled cryptocurrency exchange FTX in its Tron blockchain wallet. The move comes one day after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Justice Department began investigating FTX over its liquidity crisis. A spokesperson from Tether stated on Oct. 11 that the firm only freezes privately held wallets when it firm receives a legitimate request from a verified law enforcement agent to do so and that "we do not freeze wallets of exchanges or services." If confirmed, the …

Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto markets saw fresh volatility on Nov. 10 after stablecoin Tether (USDT) unpegged from the U.S. dollar. Tether exec: "No issues" with USDT Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed USDT hitting lows of $0.971 on Bitstamp on the day amid fears that the largest stablecoin by market cap may fall further. Those fears were stoked by evidence of embattled exchange FTX and sister company Alameda Research attempting to short USDT. Currently in the throws of a crisis reminiscent of the Terra LUNA debacle, both firms have fallen foul of the cryptocurrency community and beyond as …

Amid the liquidity crisis that fell over crypto exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, some of the largest crypto companies face calls for transparency to let users know if there are risks. However, executives assured the community that they do not have exposure to either of the troubled firms. In response to concerns brought up by the crypto community, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino clarified in a tweet that the stablecoin issuer has no exposure to either of the distressed firms. According to the Tether executive, Alameda has previously redeemed a lot of Tether (USDT). Despite this, Ardoino highlighted that …

On this week’s episode of Market Talks, we welcome Jake, also known as “Korean Jew Crypto” on Twitter and the founder of “The Trading Dojo,” a platform that provides quality coaching and education to help traders identify profitable trades on their own. The wide reaching interview covered KJ’s take on how to trade the Federal Open Markets Committee and Consumer Price Index events, along with his views on how Federal Reserve policy is impacting crypto prices. According to KJ: “In regards to what Powell said, and the way the news cycle has been, a few weeks ago I was adamant …

Over the weekend, thousands of Bitcoiners and crypto enthusiasts descended on the small, sleepy Swiss town of Lugano. More specifically, they piled onto a McDonald’s restaurant. Perched on Lake Lugano, Mcdonald's Lugano received countless visits from Bitcoiners keen to trade Satoshis (the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin) for Big Macs, McFlurrys and coffee. But why were European crypto enthusiasts excited to pay in Bitcoin (BTC) at one of the world’s most recognizable brands? Well, firstly to demonstrate the Lightning Network, a Layer-2 technology built atop Bitcoin. But also to live up to Satoshi Nakamoto’s promise that Bitcoin is, in fact, …

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) said the rise of Binance stablecoin BUSD could spark the “Second Great Stablecoin War,” given how fast its market cap has surged over recent months. Bankman-Fried's recent comments come a month after Binance pushed ahead with plans to auto-convert a host of stablecoins supported on its exchange into BUSD on Sept. 6, — which has seen BUSD's share of the total stablecoin market rise since. BUSD’s share of the total stablecoin market has risen from 10.01% on Sept. 7 to 15.48% on Oct. 22, according to crypto data aggregator Coin Metrics. Meanwhile, BUSD’s market cap …

Hackers took over the official Twitter account of crypto exchange Gate.io, putting over 1 million users at risk of losing funds to an ongoing fraudulent Tether (USDT) giveaway. Social media platform Twitter serves as the most effective medium to reach the crypto community. As a result, the trend of hacking into official Twitter handles of verified accounts to promote scams is on the rise. Hackers of unknown origin took over Gate.io’s Twitter account and changed the website URL from Gate.io to gąte.com (https://xn--gte-ipa.com/) — a fraudulent website impersonating the exchange. The fake website is actively promoting a fake giveaway of …

Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings Limited has unwound its exposure to commercial paper, addressing a long-standing item of contention among detractors who’ve criticized the quality of its reserves. In addition to removing commercial paper from its reserves, Tether announced on Oct. 13 that it had replaced those investments with United States Treasury Bills. “Reducing commercial papers to zero demonstrates Tether’s commitment to backing its tokens with the most secure reserves in the market,” the company said. While Tether has long been subjected to public scrutiny about its reserves, for the past year detractors have focused on the composition of its assets. …

Major stablecoin issuer Tether froze yet another batch of USDT on the Ethereum blockchain, freezing more than $8 million worth of the cryptocurrency. Crypto monitoring resource Whale Alert has identified several transactions indicating that Tether froze three USDT addresses on Oct. 10. According to data from transaction logs on Etherscan, the frozen addresses hold 3.4 million USDT, 1.95 million USDT and 2.9 million USDT. The addresses are no longer able to move funds and collectively hold $8.2 million worth of the USDT stablecoin. "Tether works closely with law enforcement worldwide to assist in investigations, including freezes," a spokesperson for Tether …