As the European Union (EU) prepares for parliamentary elections next week, the cryptocurrency sector braces for potential regulatory shifts that could

Bitfinex Analyst Says EU Elections Could Be Make-or-Break Moment for Crypto Here’s Why - Coinpedia Fintech News

The European Union Parliamentary Elections, taking place next week, could provide further clues on how crypto will be regulated in that market, according to <strong>Bitfinex</strong> Head of Derivatives Jag Kooner.

EU elections could hint at future direction for crypto regulations, Bitfinex analyst says | The Block

<strong>Bitfinex</strong>, il celebre crypto-exchange, ha annunciato il listing di Velar (VELAR), il token nativo del protocollo di liquidità su Bitcoin.

Bitfinex: il crypto-exchange annuncia il listing di VELAR

Expectedly, the market went on a rollercoaster ride amid the SEC approvals.

This Is How the Crypto Market Reacted to Ether ETF Approvals: Bitfinex

Bitfinex

bitfinex

In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency, Hong Kong's foray into retail crypto trading dominates today's headlines. HashKey and OSL have secured regulatory approval, achieving significant milestones that will shape the future of digital asset access in the region. HashKey and OSL Open Doors to Retail Crypto Traders HashKey's recent achievement involves upgrading two major licenses from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), allowing the firm to offer trading services to both institutional and retail investors. Livio Weng, the company's spokesperson, believes this development will foster a newfound investor confidence in the market. Similarly, OSL announced an upgrade to its existing license from the SFC, now enabling it to facilitate Bitcoin trading for retail investors. Dave Chapman, a key figure in OSL, emphasized the importance of this license upgrade in providing broader access to digital assets for individuals. Bitfinex Hack Resurfaces with a Surprising Revelation In a stunning turn of events, Ilya Lichtenstein, one of the individuals charged with laundering billions in Bitcoin, has come forward and admitted his involvement in the infamous 2016 Bitfinex hack. It is reported that nearly 95,000 BTC was laundered before authorities tracked it down. Interestingly, some of the assets were converted into physical gold and allegedly buried by Heather Morgan. The couple involved in the hack was arrested in February 2022, and the remaining Bitcoin was seized. However, only a small portion of the stolen BTC has been recovered, leaving lingering questions about the fate of the rest. MicroStrategy's Unwavering Confidence in Bitcoin Amid discussions about potential spot Bitcoin ETFs, Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, remains steadfast in his belief that the company's allure to investors will endure. Comparing MicroStrategy to a sportscar and the spot ETF to a supertanker, Saylor emphasizes his firm's nimbleness and adaptability. The company is even more determined to accumulate more Bitcoin, cementing its position as a prominent player in the crypto space. GameStop's Crypto Misstep Raises Eyebrows In a surprising move, GameStop has withdrawn from the crypto arena, dismantling its crypto wallet and stalling its NFT initiatives. This retreat has sparked discussions about the company's vision and its potential missed opportunities. GameStop's bold entry into the crypto world seemed to reflect a willingness to embrace the future of decentralized empowerment, but this sudden withdrawal suggests a misunderstanding of the direction in which gaming and wealth are heading. Closing Thoughts: Embracing the Future of Digital Assets Today's news showcases the ongoing expansion of crypto trading into the retail space, empowering individual investors to partake in this revolutionary financial landscape. As Hong Kong opens its doors to wider crypto adoption, it sends a message of confidence and enthusiasm for the future of digital assets. On the other hand, controversies surrounding the Bitfinex hack and money laundering highlight the importance of security measures and regulatory oversight in the crypto industry. Such incidents remind us that innovation must be balanced with responsibility to maintain the integrity of the market. In this ever-changing crypto landscape, companies like MicroStrategy continue to lead the charge, displaying unwavering belief in the potential of Bitcoin as a valuable asset class. Their commitment to accumulation highlights the long-term view that many in the crypto community share. Finally, GameStop's retreat reminds us that in this volatile and fast-paced environment, foresight and adaptability are essential to seize opportunities and remain relevant in the ever-shifting landscape of digital assets. In this era of digital transformation, the world of finance is undergoing a tectonic shift. As we witness the ongoing evolution of crypto trading and its impact on global economies, it is imperative for both investors and industry players to adapt swiftly to the changing tides. By embracing the decentralized nature of this new financial realm, we pave the way for a more inclusive, secure, and prosperous future for all. Sources: Finance.Yahoo NYmag Coin360 InvestorPlace Also published . here

Retail Crypto Traders, Bitfinex Hack and Other Crypto Stories You Need to Know Today

Bitfinex, , has more than 180 open-source repositories in GitHub–from a to . The most sophisticated trading toolkit developed by Bitfinex, though, is Honey Framework with many useful packages such as , , , and . one of the largest cryptocurrency digital exchanges Tezos JS library UI goodies bfx-hf-ui bfx-hf-strategy bfx-hf-indicators bfx-hf-strategy-exec In this tutorial, we'll use the Honey Framework ecosystem to define and backtest a trend trading strategy on historic data for the past 500 days. Requirements Let's install the libraries we're going to use. First, run the following command to install Honey Framework libraries. npm install bfx-hf-strategy bfx-api- bfx-hf-util bfx-hf-indicators node -models We'll also need the following packages to display the trades on the command line. npm install cli- colors table Eventually, install library as well to retrieve the data from Bitfinex API. node-fetch npm install node -fetch Strategy We use a simple trend trading strategy based on the following logic: position if the price is between -1 SD and -2 SD Bollinger Bands® and short SMA is below the long SMA. Open short position if the candle is green and more than 75% of its body crossed above the -1 SD band. Close short position if the price is between +1 SD and +2 SD bands and the short simple moving average is above the long simple moving average. Open long position if the candle is red and more than 75% of its body crossed below +1 SD band. Close long The logic behind the strategy is fairly straightforward: if the price is between  -1 SD and +1 SD bands (No Man's Land), we close our position. If the price is in the sell-zone (between the lower bands) and the market trend is bearish (short SMA is below long SMA), we open a short position. On the other hand, if the price is between upper bands and the market is bullish, we open a long position (in other words, we only trade in direction of the overall trend). Check to find more information about trend trading based on Bollinger Bands®. this article from Investopedia Code Let's get our hands dirty. First, create that defines a dummy strategy. strategy.js { SYMBOLS, TIME_FRAMES } = ( ); { BollingerBands, SMA } = ( ); HFS = ( ); .exports = HFS.define({ : , : ,
    symbol,
    tf, : { : BollingerBands([ , ]), : BollingerBands([ , ]), : SMA([ ]), : SMA([ ]),
    },
  }); // strategy.js const require "bfx-hf-util" const require "bfx-hf-indicators" const require "bfx-hf-strategy" module ( ) => { symbol = SYMBOLS.BTC_USD, tf = TIME_FRAMES.ONE_DAY } id "bbands" name "bbands" indicators bbands2 new 20 2 bbands1 new 20 1 smaShort new 25 smaLong new 100 Let's break it down. We define the default symbol (BTCUSD) and timeframe (one day). Then, we define the indicators we're going to use. We need two Bollinger Band® bands, both in the period of 20 days. We give a multiplier of 2 to the first (±2 standard deviations) and a multiplier of 1 to the second one  (±1 standard deviations). In the end, we add two SMAs, one in a 25-day period (short SMA) and the other in a 100-day period (long SMA). to find a list of all indicators available in Bitfinex Honey Framework. Check this We can enter the market now. The strategy we defined accepts five handler methods to update positions and make trades on each event: - called when no position is open onEnter - called when a long position is open onUpdateLong - called when a short position is open onUpdateShort - called when any position is open onUpdate - called on every tick onPriceUpdate Event handlers receive two parameters, (the strategy context) and (point-in-time data), they look for trade opportunities and update if there's a trade to be made. state update state Enter Into the Market Let's define the strategy to enter the market. First, add to encapsulate the reusable logic. Define in it to extract Bollinger Band® bands values from the state. helper.js getBBands HFS = ( ); getBBands = { indicatorValues = HFS.indicatorValues(state); { bbands1, bbands2 } = indicatorValues; { : plusOne, : minusOne } = bbands1; { : plusTwo, : minusTwo } = bbands2; {
    plusOne,
    plusTwo,
    minusOne,
    minusTwo,
  };
}; .exports = {
  getBBands
} // helpers.js const require "bfx-hf-strategy" const ( ) => state const const const top bottom const top bottom return module returns a map of all indicators defined in the strategy. We then extract the Bollinger Bands objects from them, which include three values: top, bottom, and middle. Eventually, the method returns ±1 and ±2 SD bands. indicatorValues Define another method to extract uptrend/downtrend data from the state. checkIfIsUptrend = { indicatorValues = HFS.indicatorValues(state); { smaShort, smaLong } = indicatorValues; isUpTrend = smaShort > smaLong; isUpTrend;
}; .exports = {
  getBBands,
  checkIfIsUptrend,
} // helpers.js /*
getBBands here
*/ const ( ) => state const const const return module The method simply checks if short SMA is above long SMA and infers the trend from it. Add . We'll use it to find trade opportunities. look_for_trade.js HFS = ( ); { getBBands, checkIfIsUptrend } = ( ); .exports = (state = {}, update = {}) => { { price, : timestamp } = update; orderParams = { : timestamp, : ,
    price,
  }; bands = getBBands(state); isBuyZone = bands.plusTwo >= price && price >= bands.plusOne; isSellZone = bands.minusTwo <= price && price <= bands.minusOne; isUptrend = checkIfIsUptrend(state); (isSellZone && !isUptrend) { HFS.openShortPositionMarket(state, orderParams);
  } (isBuyZone && isUptrend) { HFS.openLongPositionMarket(state, orderParams);
  } state;
}; // look_for_trade.js const require "bfx-hf-strategy" const require "./helpers" module async const mts const mtsCreate amount 1 const // between +1 SD and +2 SD from mean, the trend is up const // between -1 SD and -2 SD from mean, the trend is down const const if return if return return The method checks if the price is in the trade zone (between +1 and +2 SD or -1 SD and -2 SD bands). If the price is in the sell zone and the trend is bullish, it opens a short position, and if the price is in the sell zone and the trend is bearish, it opens a long position. If none is true, it simply returns the previous state. Notice that we use Honey Framework helper functions to open positions. You can find the list of all helper functions . Add to use the function we just defined to handle onEnter events. here on_enter.js lookForTrade = ( ); .exports = (state = {}, update = {}) => {
  newState = lookForTrade(state, update); newState;
}; // on_enter.js const require "./look_for_trade" module async await return Now add the handler to the strategy. on_enter = ( ); .exports = HFS.define({ onEnter: on_enter,
  }); // strategy.js /* other imports */ //  handlers const require "./on_enter" module ( ) => { symbol = SYMBOLS.BTC_USD, tf = TIME_FRAMES.ONE_DAY } /*
    other strategy properties
    */ Update Positions Well done! We've just exposed ourselves to the market. But we should add other handlers to react to market updates while we have an open position. Define another method in to check if 75% or more of the candle body crossed the inner bands. helpers.js HFS = ( ); checkIfShouldClose = { candleBody = .abs(close - open); closeToNoMansLandDist =
    position == ? close - bands.minusOne : bands.plusOne - close; shouldClose = closeToNoMansLandDist / candleBody >= ; shouldClose;
}; .exports = {
  getBBands,
  checkIfIsUptrend,
  checkIfShouldClose,
}; // helpers.js const require "bfx-hf-strategy" /*
 Other methods
*/ const ( ) => close, open, bands, position const Math const "short" // check if 75% of candle body entered to the No Man's Land. // see: https://www.investopedia.com/thmb/AtmrjGx96Tbz8f1cfnGOGzpqHqU=/2378x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/dotdash_Final_Using_Bollinger_Bands_to_Gauge_Trends_Oct_2020-02-f76c639116734ccfb8493dce32ed149a.jpg const 0.75 return module calculates the candle body height by finding the distance between open and close values. Then, it checks how much of the candle entered the No Man's Land. If more than 75% of the candle body is in between two inner bands, it closes the position. checkIfShouldClose It's time to create . on_long.js HFS = ( ); lookForTrade = ( ); { getBBands, checkIfShouldClose } = ( ); .exports = (state = {}, update = {}) => { { candle, : timestamp, price } = update; { open, close } = candle; orderParams = { : timestamp, : ,
    price,
  }; bands = getBBands(state); isCandleGreen = open <= close; (isCandleGreen) state; isCloseAbove1Std = bands.plusOne < close; (isCloseAbove1Std) state; shouldClose = checkIfShouldClose(close, open, bands, ); (!shouldClose) state; newState = HFS.closePositionMarket(state, orderParams); newState = lookForTrade(newState, update); newState;
}; // on_long.js const require "bfx-hf-strategy" const require "./look_for_trade" const require "./helpers" module async const mts const const mtsCreate amount 1 const const if return const if return //  check if 75% of candle body is below 1 std const "long" if return let await //  look if should open short await return The method we just defined checks if: The candle is green. The candle is above the No Man's Land (i.e., the closing value is above the +1 SD band). Less than 75% of the candle is in the No Man's Land. And if any of these are correct, it doesn't touch the position. Otherwise, it closes the long position using helper method and then calls to check if a short position should be opened. Now, let's define our strategy while shorting. closePositionMarket lookForTrade HFS = ( ); lookForTrade = ( ); { getBBands, checkIfShouldClose } = ( ); .exports = (state = {}, update = {}) => { { candle, : timestamp, price } = update; { open, close } = candle; orderParams = { : timestamp, : ,
    price,
  }; bands = getBBands(state); isCandleRed = open >= close; (isCandleRed) state; isCloseBelowStd = bands.minusOne > close; (isCloseBelowStd) state; shouldClose = checkIfShouldClose(close, open, bands, ); (!shouldClose) state; newState = HFS.closePositionMarket(state, orderParams); newState = lookForTrade(newState, update); newState;
}; // on_short.js const require "bfx-hf-strategy" const require "./look_for_trade" const require "./helpers" module async const mts const const mtsCreate amount 1 const const if return const if return //  check if 75% of candle body is below 1 std const "short" if return let await //  look if should open long await return checks if: on_short.js The candle is red. The candle is below the No Man's Land (i.e., the closing value is below the -1 SD band). Less than 75% of the candle is in the No Man's Land. And if all above are false, it closes the short position and looks for new trade opportunities. That's it. We've finished defining the strategy. Add the new event handlers to . Then we can start testing the algorithm. strategy.js on_enter = ( ); on_long = ( ); on_short = ( ); .exports = HFS.define({ onEnter: on_enter, : on_long, : on_short,
  }); // strategy.js /* other imports */ //  handlers const require "./on_enter" const require "./on_long" const require "./on_short" module ( ) => { symbol = SYMBOLS.BTC_USD, tf = TIME_FRAMES.ONE_DAY } /* 
      Other strategy properties
    */ onUpdateLong onUpdateShort Test on Historical Data Add to retrieve historic data from Bitfinex API. get_data.js ; fetch = ( ); url = ; get_500_days = { date = (); end = date.getTime();

  date.setDate(date.getDate() - ); start = date.getTime(); { start, end };
}; .exports = { { { start, end } = get_500_days(); pathParams = ; queryParams = ; req = fetch( ); response = req.json(); response;
  } (err) { .log(err);
  }
}; // get_data.js "use strict" const require "node-fetch" const "https://api-pub.bitfinex.com/v2/" const => () let new Date const 500 const return module async ( ) function getData { symbol, tf } try const const `candles/trade: : /hist` ${tf} ${symbol} const `start= &end= &limit=500` ${start} ${end} const await ` / ? ` ${url} ${pathParams} ${queryParams} const await return catch console fetches OHLC data of the past 500 days, given a symbol and a timeframe.  You can modify the parameters to meet your needs. Find more information about Bitfinex API's public endpoint for candle data . getData here Add to define the execution logic. exec.js process.env.DEBUG = ; { Candle } = ( ); { SYMBOLS, TIME_FRAMES } = ( ); logTrades = ( ); HFS = ( ); getData = ( ); BBandsStrategy = ( ); market = { : SYMBOLS.BTC_USD, : TIME_FRAMES.ONE_DAY,
}; getCandles = () => { rawCandleData = getData(market); candles = rawCandleData
    .sort( a[ ] - b[ ])
    .map( ({
      ...new Candle(candle).toJS(),
      ...market,
    })); candles;
}; run = () => { candles = getCandles(); strategyState = BBandsStrategy(market); ( i = ; i < candles.length; i += ) {
    strategyState = HFS.onCandle(strategyState, candles[i]);
  }

  logTrades(strategyState);
}; {
  run();
} (e) { .error(e);
} // exec.js "*" const require "bfx-api-node-models" const require "bfx-hf-util" const require "bfx-hf-strategy/lib/debug/log_trades" const require "bfx-hf-strategy" const require "./get_data" const require "./strategy" const symbol tf const async const await // attach market data const ( ) => a, b 0 0 ( ) => candle return const async const await let for let 0 1 await try catch console method retrieves the data and attaches market information to them. During live execution, we may receive data from multiple sources for different symbols and different timeframes, thus, it's necessary to attach this information to raw data. getCandles Then, gets candle data and the strategy and passes them to helper method that orchestrates relevant strategy event handlers for the new price action data. Eventually, logs the results using function. run onCandle run logTrades Let's test the algorithm. Open the command line in the project's directory and run the following command. node exec The result will be something like this: You can find a list of all positions along with the amount, price, fee, and profit/loss figure of each one. At the bottom, general information about the strategy is logged. The bot has made 37 trades, opened 19 positions, and gained 3960.91$. You can modify and change how it displays the results. helper function log_trades.js That's it! We've defined and backtested a simple trading strategy using Bitfinex Honey Framework toolkit. The example pieces of code in the article are available . here

Define and Backtest Crypto Algo Trading Strategies With Bitfinex Honey Framework Toolkit

The sleepy British Virgin Islands On December 6th, 2017, the company operating Bitfinex and its affiliate Tether received a subpoena from the CFTC. The CFTC is a regulator, and they have the ability to require a financial company that operates with U.S. customers to answer questions. Why would the CFTC be concerned about Bitfinex, which is an exchange incorporated in the British Virgin Islands with a principal address in Hong Kong? Reading through Bitfinex’s , I learned that Bitfinex is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands under the name IFinex Inc, and “Bitfinex” refers to two distinct subsidiaries: BFXWW Inc., the Bitfinex exchange for non US citizens, and BFXNA Inc., the Bitfinex exchange for U.S. citizens. terms of service On June 2, 2016, BFXNA, which operates the Bitfinex exchange with U.S. customers, agreed to a from the CFTC without denying or accepting responsibility for engaging in illegal off-exchange commodity transaction and failing to register as a futures commission merchant. It is unclear why the CFTC did not force BFXNA to exclude U.S. investors then. They clearly got a pass, at least that time, but the controversy surrounding the exchange continued to shadow its legacy. Last summer, Bitfinex announced its due to regulatory issues. Now, they are facing similar regulatory pressures with its business concerning individual US traders. legal order discontinuation of serving US retail customers The CFTC has spoken, issuing a in December, and this could be much more damaging to Bitfinex. There are no leaks as to what this new investigation is about, but the rumor mills are operating at a very high level. It is also not known if the SEC is involved, which would be logical because they are operating as an unregulated exchange trading tokens deemed securities by the SEC. new subpoena The rumored main accusation is that Bitfinex is manipulating the price of Bitcoin because they also own Tether, which sells Tether tokens to investors that are tagged to the US dollar. Tether is called a stable coin because it will not increase or decrease in value. However, though the company claims that a single Tether token equals one dollar, they have provided no proof of the dollar reserves necessary to keep that value constant. Traders then use Tethers to purchase and sell Bitcoins on the Bitfinex exchange. It’s important to note that Bitfinex and Tether have the same . So people buying Tether tokens through Bitfinex are paying the same people twice? If that sounds shady, that’s because it is. CEO, CFO, chief strategy officer, and general counsel The rumor mill accuses Tether to be a fraud because the company does not have the dollar reserves they claim to have in order to keep the value of the Tether constant, or tethered to the dollar. Instead, accusers claim that Tether is creating new Tether tokens out of thin air and selling them to encourage investors to exchange them for Bitcoin, artificially inflating the price of the other token. This whole issue is further clouded by the fact that Bitfinex’s exchange has been , costing the company $60M in Bitcoin, which further begs the question, does Bitfinex have the reserves to back their claims? Friedman LLP, the New Jersey auditor who was hired to publish a report on just that question, on January 27th, Bitfinex confirmed. This all points to serious issues within the company. hacked before recently resigned The financial industry is based on trust. In order to earn trust, companies must offer transparency, and more importantly, the company must also be regulated to provide customers the assurance of government oversight. Bitfinex is an exchange trading commodities in the form of Bitcoin but also dozens of other tokens, which according to the SEC are probably securities because of the method of sale. In addition, Tether could also be a security because it is a derivative financial product representing the value of a dollar. Investors using Bitfinex should worry because the CFTC and the SEC could seek an injunction from the Justice department and seriously harm the company. So what should Bitfinex do? The best course of action for the company is to create a U.S. based subsidiary and seek registration with the SEC as an exchange, and if they are rejected, seek to become a broker dealer. This would permit the company to trade securities legally and offer its customer some form of protection through The Securities Investor Protection Corporation which will insure investor accounts up to $500K. Of course, for the company to become regulated they would also need to do the same in each country where they have customers from. This would require them to become a multinational financial firm. It is unlikely they seek this route and instead go against the regulators, including the CFTC and the SEC. Not a pretty picture. If you liked what you read, join us for the StartEngine ICO 2.0 Spring Summit , where industry leaders will be discussing issues like these.

Why Regulation Can Help Bitfinex and Tether

Our Two Satoshis’ Worth: The Bitfinex Token Sale is Brilliant

The Government is taking action on Bitfinex. Who’s Next?

Tether’s success has always attracted people who wanted to prove that the issuer of the world’s leading stablecoin did something wrong. Recent reports indicated that a years-long lawsuit against Tether and the crypto exchange Bitfinex was brought back to life by filing an amended complaint, which accuses them of manipulating crypto prices. In short, the plaintiffs claim that Tether prints USDT without any collateral. Then, the stablecoin is used to buy crypto, including BTC, to artificially boost prices. According to plaintiffs, crypto investors overpaid for crypto because of the pump and, therefore, suffered billions of dollars of damage. The case has been dragging on since 2019, and the recent complaint is aimed to revive it. While the litigation continues, we will look at whether it is theoretically possible to “pump BTC using the uncontrolled emission of USDT.” The current USDT market cap exceeds $114 billion. Reserves, as reported by Tether and audited by BDO Italia, mostly consist of Treasury bills (79.88%), overnight reverse repurchase agreements (12.2%), and money market funds (6.77%). Since 2019, no one has been able to provide evidence supporting claims that Tether was printing USDT out of thin air without respective collateral. Given the attention Tether gets from its competitors who dream about taking its market share, it’s hard to imagine that the company would have been able to get away with such tricks without getting discovered. Taking a look at the chart of USDT market cap in recent years, we can see a fairly strong pullback from $82 billion to $65 billion. This pullback occurred back in 2022 when crypto markets found themselves under pressure amid the Terra (LUNA) disaster and FTX collapse. Such a pullback is hardly surprising as the USDT market cap depends on the demand for stablecoins, which, in turn, is correlated with demand for crypto in general. It should be noted that the correlation between the USDT market cap and demand for “true crypto” is not full. Demand related to purchases of coins and tokens is not the only source of demand for USDT. The stablecoin is actively used for cheap transactions, including international ones. With a daily trading volume that is often close to $70 billion, Tether is the most traded asset in the crypto universe. In addition to transactions, people who reside in countries with weak economies use Tether for savings, which also creates demand for the stablecoin. In order to “pump BTC”, Tether first needs to get away with printing USDT without sufficient collateral (a charge which has not been proven despite multiple attempts) and then use it to secretly buy BTC (obviously, with the help of some shady crypto exchange – another charge which has not been proven). Put simply, it’s just another conspiracy theory. There are three main pillars for USDT demand: crypto demand, transactions demand, and inflation protection demand. If demand grows, Tether is able to purchase collateral and print additional USDT. There’s no need to “pump BTC” with USDT: if demand for Bitcoin grows, demand for USDT will grow, and traders will need USDT to buy BTC on exchanges. Tether’s success has always attracted people who wanted to prove that the issuer of the world’s leading stablecoin did something wrong. Tether’s success has always attracted people who wanted to prove that the issuer of the world’s leading stablecoin did something wrong. Recent reports indicated that a years-long lawsuit against Tether and the crypto exchange Bitfinex was brought back to life by filing an amended complaint, which accuses them of manipulating crypto prices. Recent reports indicated that a years-long lawsuit against Tether and the crypto exchange Bitfinex was brought back to life by filing an amended complaint, which accuses them of manipulating crypto prices. indicated indicated In short, the plaintiffs claim that Tether prints USDT without any collateral. Then, the stablecoin is used to buy crypto, including BTC, to artificially boost prices. According to plaintiffs, crypto investors overpaid for crypto because of the pump and, therefore, suffered billions of dollars of damage. The case has been dragging on since 2019, and the recent complaint is aimed to revive it. While the litigation continues, we will look at whether it is theoretically possible to “pump BTC using the uncontrolled emission of USDT.” The current USDT market cap exceeds $114 billion. Reserves, as reported by Tether and audited by BDO Italia, mostly consist of Treasury bills (79.88%), overnight reverse repurchase agreements (12.2%), and money market funds (6.77%). Since 2019, no one has been able to provide evidence supporting claims that Tether was printing USDT out of thin air without respective collateral. Given the attention Tether gets from its competitors who dream about taking its market share, it’s hard to imagine that the company would have been able to get away with such tricks without getting discovered. Taking a look at the chart of USDT market cap in recent years, we can see a fairly strong pullback from $82 billion to $65 billion. This pullback occurred back in 2022 when crypto markets found themselves under pressure amid the Terra (LUNA) disaster and FTX collapse. Such a pullback is hardly surprising as the USDT market cap depends on the demand for stablecoins, which, in turn, is correlated with demand for crypto in general. It should be noted that the correlation between the USDT market cap and demand for “true crypto” is not full. Demand related to purchases of coins and tokens is not the only source of demand for USDT. The stablecoin is actively used for cheap transactions, including international ones. With a daily trading volume that is often close to $70 billion, Tether is the most traded asset in the crypto universe. In addition to transactions, people who reside in countries with weak economies use Tether for savings, which also creates demand for the stablecoin. In order to “pump BTC”, Tether first needs to get away with printing USDT without sufficient collateral (a charge which has not been proven despite multiple attempts) and then use it to secretly buy BTC (obviously, with the help of some shady crypto exchange – another charge which has not been proven). Put simply, it’s just another conspiracy theory. There are three main pillars for USDT demand: crypto demand, transactions demand, and inflation protection demand. If demand grows, Tether is able to purchase collateral and print additional USDT. There’s no need to “pump BTC” with USDT: if demand for Bitcoin grows, demand for USDT will grow, and traders will need USDT to buy BTC on exchanges.

Can Tether Pump BTC Through Uncontrolled Emission?

Photo by Daniel Olah on Unsplash Nowadays, everybody seems to be trading or investing in cryptocurrencies. Presently, Ethereum, Litecoin, Cardano, PolkaDot, USDT, etc., are the top altcoins in the market but not everyone is aware of the best ways to trade them. 4 Top Altcoin Exchanges in 2021 1. Binance More than 200 million individuals from all across the globe use this exchange, and half of them come for altcoins only. Binance deals with 375+ altcoins. Surprisingly, the trading commission here remains at 0.10%. Binance currently supports more than 45 fiats for exchange with both Bitcoin and altcoins. When you approach this exchange, you get a plethora of options for payments. Some are through debit cards, credit cards, PayPal, Wire, SEPA, and bank transfer. You can directly HODL your cryptos with a Binance account or within an individual wallet. 2. Kraken If you are just getting started in the world of cryptocurrencies, you should look for in 2021. Kraken Kraken is the only exchange that has never been hacked. This is what makes it one of the most popular platforms to trade cryptocurrencies on. Presently, Kraken is dealing with 70 altcoins besides Bitcoin. Of course, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, USDT, PolkaDot, Cardano, Monero and other well-known altcoins are included. Kraken supports payment options like SEPA, FedWire, and Swift. The trading commission is at 0.26% for both Bitcoin and altcoins. Only 7 fiat options are available with this exchange so far. 3. Houbi Global Register with and get an opportunity to trade 300 altcoins in the market. Huobi Global Presently, the daily trading volume of this exchange is $3 billion. One reason why this exchange is not the first one on the list is that it has to compete with Binance and Kraken. Binance and Kraken have about 200 million visitors per month, while Houbi Global has only 9 million visitors. The two deposit options available are bank transfer and credit card, although the exchange has 50 localized payment options. You pay a 0.20% trading commission for every trade with Houbi Global. 4. Bitfinex The last exchange that deals impartially with altcoins is . Presently, Bitfinex is supporting payment options with a credit card and bank transfers. Bitfinex Many people face problems with this exchange because it puts restrictions on trading limits. Bitfinex offers trading with more than 300 altcoins, and it receives 6 million visitors per month on average. The trading commission is 0.20%. Bitfinex lacks the billion-dollar daily trading volume that others have. Only four fiat options are available at present. Anyways, if your fiat is not included, you can choose to go for the crypto-to-crypto option. What to Consider Before Choosing an Exchange While choosing an exchange, you should consider the security practices of the platform. In terms of security practices, we have already noticed that Kraken is the top performer.  Kraken spends most of the funds on security rather than UI and UX. Binance measures well with metrics of volume. You have an option to trade with more than 375 cryptocurrencies. Besides the exchanges I have mentioned above, many crypto platforms share news and updates that are beneficial to you. If a platform comes with a cryptocurrency news calendar, it is generally better. A calendar organizes updates for every date when any important event or announcement occurs. Crypto news Every reputable crypto exchange platform follows the KYC norms placed by the countries where they are operating. If any exchange is not following the rules, it could be an unreliable one. Many people do not want to show their personal details while trading cryptocurrencies, so they should consider a DEX. It's best to choose an exchange based on the trading commission. Among all, Binance is charging the least amount for fees with the most trading options available. Final Thoughts In this article, we have reviewed four of the for this year. As the number of cryptocurrencies is growing, more and more exchanges are showing up in the market, and this is likely to continue. best altcoin exchanges

Top Altcoin Exchanges in 2021

Although the implementation of cryptocurrency has been planned and discussed for several years, its usage has only exploded in recent times, together with the evolution of the digital era. Many refer to these ages as the ones of the , as, its creation, has completely disrupted the trading activity. Bitcoin Boom Bitcoin, indeed, can univocally be considered as the pioneer of all cryptocurrencies. The benefits of cryptocurrencies can be mainly summarized in a couple of points, aimed to free the World from banking systems and allow more secure transactions. With this kept in mind, investing in cryptocurrencies appears to be a great opportunity, as every crypto transaction is safely recorded with the help of the Blockchain technology. If you have thought many times of getting involved into this Digital Currency Boom but you haven’t done anything about it yet and you don’t know where to move your first steps, this article is for you. What we want to see today is: How to become a crypto investor? What are the options and the opportunities that this activity involves? T to make is certainly creating a . We know that cryptocurrencies are all digital but, at the end of the day, your crypto coins and crypto bills also need a crypto wallet. he first crypto step crypto wallet Crypto wallets allow you to store, control and have the complete ownership of your Coins, and give you the chance to monitor your balance and make transactions in total security. Creating and managing a crypto wallet is very easy, but keep in mind that the options are many and, in most cases, experts suggest to mix the use of different wallets together, as each one of them has its own peculiarity. According to your purposes and your preferences, you might decide of using: Wallet applications, Desktop wallets, Online wallets, Hardware wallets or Paper wallet. 1 are generally the ones that everyone prefers at beginning of a crypto trading career, as they are easy to use, they usually have a friendly interface and, most of all, they can be carried around and consulted in every moment. Wallet applications 2 They differ from the . These ones, as you can easily understand, are only accessible from your computer. You can easily download them and they guarantee you a higher level of security. desktop wallets 3 can be accessed from any device provided the Internet connection. Online wallets 4 On the other hand, if you don’t want to depend from your network, you can opt for a , that can work perfectly offline. hardware wallet 5Another offline option is represented by , that allow you to print out your Bitcoin private keys and that can be a safe solution against hackers. paper wallets No matter what wallet you decide to go with, the opening process might be similar for the majority of them. All you need to do is create your crypto account, link it to your card and you are all set! Don’t forget that the wallets you choose depend on the currency you want to trade. Among all, Ledger Nano S is considered the best for Ether exchange, while Coinbase is recommended for Bitcoin. Of course, the choice of which currency to trade is subsequent to the one of which market to trade in. You can’t trade crypto on the exchange but the choices are still many - more than 250! Forex stock 1One of the options is , that ensures secure transactions and low charges. Binance presents the highest trading volume, compared to the other crypto exchange markets, and is used by over seven million traders. Binance 2Another important crypto market is , which is also used by several millions of people from all over the world and it has been the largest Bitcoin exchange platform for four years already. Bitfinex 3A third option could be , that advertises fast deposits and rapid withdrawals, together with promising the lowest commission fees on the market. Exmo The identification of the right crypto exchange market strongly depends on the currency you decide to trade.We have mentioned Bitcoin before, as it is certainly the most well-known among all digital currencies.Of course, however, Bitcoin it is not the only one available in the market. Other cryptocurrencies are Litecoin, Ether and Ripple. Litecoin was introduced with the purpose of offering a better, cheaper and faster option than the Bitcoin, but, substantially, does not differ much from the cryptocurrency pioneer. Ether is the token used as the cryptocurrency of the platform Ethereum. The main peculiarity of Ethereum is that its blockchain technology concentrates on running the programming code of any decentralized application. Ripple was launched in 2012 and it differentiates itself from the other cryptocurrencies because it is the only one that is connected to legitimate banks, such as Santander, Bank of America and UBS. The general rule to make sure you are going to the right direction at every turning point you meet is to do your research carefully avoid lesser-known options, in order to avoid frauds and platforms that are easily hackable. Any questions or concerns? Ask our team in Telegram community! AITrading links Website Roadmap Whitepaper Medium Blog Telegram community Telegram channel Twitter Facebook Insta Bitcointalk ANN Steemit Subreddit

How to become a crypto ninja

In my last , I discussed Tethers and a little bit of how they work. In this post, you will learn exactly how precarious Tethers really are. post At the start of 2017, the amount of Tethers in circulation stood at around $10M ‘USD’, as can be seen on the history. CoinMarketCap You’ll notice that for most of 2016, the Tethers in circulation were essentially flat in the grand scheme of things, and they only started to increase dramatically along with the price of Bitcoin. Tether really started to take off after March 2017, when Bitfinex was cut off from the traditional banking system, Tether being a sister company of Bitfinex, was also cut off from banking at the same exact time which triggered a lawsuit from both Tether and Bitfinex against Wells Fargo. Source And withdrawn a mere six days later… Source Tether finally made an announcement regarding the situation a week later. Since April 18, 2017, all incoming international wires to Tether have been blocked and refused by our Taiwanese banks. As such, we do not expect the supply of tethers to increase substantially until these constraints have been lifted. Source Archive At of the time of this post, Tether has not made any formal announcements about a solution to their banking problem (as is the case with Bitfinex). Presumably, if Tether in fact had a viable solution to their banking problems, they would of course be proud to announce it on their website to inform everyone of the good news. It’s been nearly four months, and we’ve had radio silence regarding the issue. People have been quick to dismiss this as “not a big problem” or “bitcoin finds a way”, but that’s not what Bitfinex and Tether said in their lawsuit against Wells Fargo… Source How Tether and Bitfinex ‘Solved’ their banking problem. Tether claimed that the supply of tethers would until their banking problem was solved, yet the supply of Tethers has actually increased by since this announcement. not increase 482% From July 2017 to August 2017, the supply of Tethers has increased by over $100,000,000 ‘USD’. And no traditional banking… so how are Tethers being increased so substantially? Who is sending money to Tether to create these Tethers? Who would in their right mind, agree to buy hundreds of millions of dollars of Tethers? We’re not criminals, but now we have to learn to bank like criminals. - Giancarlo Devasini, Bitfinex Chief Financial Officer and shareholder of Tether during a verbal conversation regarding Tethers. Information from Bitfinex Bitfinex and Tether have attempted to resolve their banking problem by essentially creating seemingly unrelated shell corporations and opening bank accounts under those corporations. Phil Potter, Chief Strategy Officer, admitted to using this tactic for Bitfinex, and it’s not a stretch to presume that this tactic is being used regarding Tether as well. “We’ve had banking hiccups in the past, we’ve just always been able to route around it or deal with it, open up new accounts, or what have you… shift to a new corporate entity, lots of cat and mouse tricks.”-Phil Potter, Chief Strategy Officer of Bitfinex ( Source ) This strategy is not going to last, with the recent crackdown on , it’s only a matter of time before regulators start to investigate where BTC-E money ended up. BTC-E And BTC-E proceeds are likely co-mingled with Tethers. BTC-E Announcement 3 days before Tether announcement about no withdrawals/deposits. ( ) Source Archive In order to add Tether to an exchange you operate, you must contract with Tether Limited for the correct type of account. You can’t just add Tether to your exchange without cooperation with Tether, and it’s likely not a coincidence at all that these two started working together within days of their banking problems materializing. BTC-E was very good at keeping their banking open, despite being notorious in the Bitcoin community for being shady and the place where criminals would cash their crypto-currencies out to fiat currencies. Bitfinex and Tether, likely adopted the BTC-E strategy for their banking. Tether claims to be ‘professionally’ audited, but does not provide any proof whatsoever about the audits, or who audits them. ‘Transparency’ You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ( ) Source Archive I have asked for months for proof of the audits, or simply the name of the firm of their professional auditors, and there has been deaf tone silence. There is now over $300M USD in these Tethers, and nobody seems to be asking questions. Tether has no real liquidity. There is only one legitimate USD/USDT pair, on Kraken. If you want real USD for your USD Tethers, you must use Kraken. Source The volume against USD/USDT organically is negligible compared to the size the rest of the market. The only other USD/USDT pair is on Bitfinex, which is in the same position as Tether anyway. Tethers do not float on Bitfinex. Bitfinex will always treat 1 TetherUSD the same as 1 USD. ALL US Dollars on Bitfinex platform, are in the same position as Tether USD. On May 12th, 2017 Bitfinex announced that they moved a majority of their funds out of Taiwan, indicating that their Taiwanese banking is likely very limited. We have, however, and the “one-time” withdrawal solution discussed in the prior announcement is coming online. Unfortunately, due to the cumbersome nature of the settlement procedure, we are processing these requests in descending order of size as we learn how to handle the process more efficiently. ( ) moved the majority of our funds out of Taiwan Source Archive This is all FUD! YOU’RE JUST BUTTHURT YOU SOLD YOUR BITCOIN! Well, I’m not talking about Bitcoin. This post is about Tether. But just for fun, let’s go ahead and pretend everything I said is false about Tether… Let’s just visit the ( ). Tether Website Archive Money built for the internet, that is not money. However, Tethers are not money and are not monetary instruments.- Tether Website Converts cash to ‘digital currency’, that is not stored value or currency. They are also not stored value or currency.- Tether Website 100% backed by no contractual right or legal claim. There is no contractual right or other right or legal claim against us to redeem or exchange your Tethers for money.- Tether Website Your money is securely in our possession. We do not guarantee any right of redemption or exchange of Tethers by us for money.-Tether Website I’m not sure, but I don’t think is on a different website than . Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong and is some sort of conspiracy website. tether.to/legal tether.to tether.to/legal FUD There’s no limit to how many Tethers can be issued. Without reliable third party audits, the amount of USD Tether Limited really controls is completely unknown. It’s likely in bank accounts that are legally unaffiliated with Tether Limited ( : they can’t get banking normally under Tether Limited), which raises questions on how you’d expect them to make good on Tether redemption's, even if they wanted. remember Their own ‘professionally audited’ stats have routinely showed negative equity, indicating they may be ‘printing’ unbacked Tethers. March 20th, 2017, 3 days before the first known suspended withdrawal. Source April 30th, 2017 Source July 15th ( ) Source Archive There have been no mass redemption of Tethers into real USD. Tethers in circulation have yet to be redeemed for real money in any large amounts. Smaller players can likely get USD out via Kraken. The problem occurs when too many Tether holders try to actually redeem several million, or tens of millions dollars collectively. In theory, on their transparency website the Tethers in circulation should go down when this happens, but in practice it has never actually gone down. They have never redeemed a large Tether holder account when you look at the data available. And they likely never will. There are potentially others, .- ( ), Tether lead legal adviser. so we need to reserve the right to not redeem Stuart Hoegner Archive What are the other reasons? They wouldn’t say. Even the Tether lawyer spreads FUD about Tether! What does he know? ( ) Source Archive So, to summarize this entire post. I will give you the best case scenario for Tethers of what they really are for people holding them. absolute And the worst case scenario? Hundreds of millions of “1 USD” blockchain tokens floating around and continuing to trade, that in reality have no USD backing them at all. When music stops for Tethers banking shenanigans, those tokens still remain as accounting entries, and can still be traded. One could expect some pretty silly prices. If you hold 50,000 USDT tokens that in reality is $0 USD, it’s a bargain to buy Bitcoin at 50,000 USDT per 1 BTC, and how will the rest of the market interpret this initially? Don’t forget, it’s inevitable that some people will know the music stopped before everyone else. People knew about the banking problems before the rest of the market and before the lawsuit, and traded on that information. Trade carefully. -Bitfinexed

The Curious Tale Of Tethers

TOKYO, Japan, July 5th, 2024/Chainwire/--$DOP, the token of the Data Ownership Protocol(DOP) will be available for trading in 7 major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bybit, Kucoin, HTX, Bitfinex, Gate.io, MEXC and WhiteBIT starting July 5th, 2024. The Data Ownership Protocol clarified that on Bybit, the token will be listed as $DOP1 to avoid confusion with an existing fiat coin. On KuCoin, Gate.io, Bitfinex, MEXC, and WhiteBIT, the token will be listed as $DOP. DOP launched its mainnet six weeks ago, following a highly successful testnet phase that saw participation from 2.67 million users. In the last six months, the DOP ecosystem has grown significantly. Over 1 million DOP wallets have been opened, and assets worth more than 10 million USD have been encrypted using the protocol, showcasing the increasing demand for user-centric data ownership solutions. “$DOP is the token of Data Ownership Protocol, a project that seeks to balance transparency and privacy on the blockchain, putting users in control of their data. The listing of our utility token marks a significant milestone and enhances our vision for the future of data ownership. We are thankful to our supporters and community who have believed in our mission from day one”, said Kohji Hirokado, co-founder of DOP and ex-core member at Cardano. Currently, the $DOP token serves two primary functions within the ecosystem: facilitating fee payments and granting community rewards. The usage of the protocol's data ownership features incurs fees payable in DOP tokens, creating a native demand for the token. This system incentivizes DOP token retention while implementing a deflationary mechanism through fee burning. It also rewards network supporters via staking distributions. To date, 210,000,000 DOP tokens have been allocated for staking rewards, with over 1.1 billion DOP tokens already staked. The listing announcement comes on the heels of Bybit's positioning as the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, surpassing Coinbase and trailing only Binance. Bybit's ascent has been remarkable, with its market share doubling from 8% to 16% since October 2023. To communicate the plans for the second half of 2024, DOP released a new roadmap following Q1's success. The plan introduces a $5 million developer grant program, expands protocol capabilities, and plans deployment on EVM-compatible chains beyond Ethereum, reducing gas fees and reaching more users. Moreover, the new developer SDK will enable developers to easily integrate and build dApps within the DOP ecosystem. Other objectives aim to enhance user security for managing NFTs by expanding functionality beyond ERC-20 tokens to include encryption and decryption of NFTs. About Data Ownership Protocol (DOP) The Data Ownership Protocol enables users to own their data. In crypto, financial data such as holdings, balances, and transaction history is publicly available on the blockchain. The mission of DOP technology is to let users decide what to share and with whom. DOP aims to empower individuals and businesses with more control over their data through selective transparency, utilizing zero-knowledge cryptography and other advanced technologies. For more information, users can visit Data Ownership Protocol's: Official Website | Twitter | Linkedin Data Ownership Protocol is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. Contact Marketing DOP marketing@dop.org This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. TOKYO, Japan, July 5th, 2024/Chainwire/-- $DOP, the token of the Data Ownership Protocol(DOP) will be available for trading in 7 major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bybit, Kucoin, HTX, Bitfinex, Gate.io, MEXC and WhiteBIT starting July 5th, 2024. TOKYO, Japan, July 5th, 2024/Chainwire/-- The Data Ownership Protocol clarified that on Bybit, the token will be listed as $DOP1 to avoid confusion with an existing fiat coin. On KuCoin, Gate.io, Bitfinex, MEXC, and WhiteBIT, the token will be listed as $DOP. DOP launched its mainnet six weeks ago, following a highly successful testnet phase that saw participation from 2.67 million users. In the last six months, the DOP ecosystem has grown significantly. Over 1 million DOP wallets have been opened, and assets worth more than 10 million USD have been encrypted using the protocol, showcasing the increasing demand for user-centric data ownership solutions. “$DOP is the token of Data Ownership Protocol, a project that seeks to balance transparency and privacy on the blockchain, putting users in control of their data. The listing of our utility token marks a significant milestone and enhances our vision for the future of data ownership. We are thankful to our supporters and community who have believed in our mission from day one”, said Kohji Hirokado, co-founder of DOP and ex-core member at Cardano. “$DOP is the token of Data Ownership Protocol, a project that seeks to balance transparency and privacy on the blockchain, putting users in control of their data. The listing of our utility token marks a significant milestone and enhances our vision for the future of data ownership. We are thankful to our supporters and community who have believed in our mission from day one”, said Kohji Hirokado, co-founder of DOP and ex-core member at Cardano. Currently, the $DOP token serves two primary functions within the ecosystem: facilitating fee payments and granting community rewards. The usage of the protocol's data ownership features incurs fees payable in DOP tokens, creating a native demand for the token. This system incentivizes DOP token retention while implementing a deflationary mechanism through fee burning. It also rewards network supporters via staking distributions. To date, 210,000,000 DOP tokens have been allocated for staking rewards, with over 1.1 billion DOP tokens already staked. The listing announcement comes on the heels of Bybit's positioning as the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, surpassing Coinbase and trailing only Binance. Bybit's ascent has been remarkable, with its market share doubling from 8% to 16% since October 2023. To communicate the plans for the second half of 2024, DOP released a new roadmap following Q1's success. The plan introduces a $5 million developer grant program, expands protocol capabilities, and plans deployment on EVM-compatible chains beyond Ethereum, reducing gas fees and reaching more users. Moreover, the new developer SDK will enable developers to easily integrate and build dApps within the DOP ecosystem. Other objectives aim to enhance user security for managing NFTs by expanding functionality beyond ERC-20 tokens to include encryption and decryption of NFTs. About Data Ownership Protocol (DOP) The Data Ownership Protocol enables users to own their data. In crypto, financial data such as holdings, balances, and transaction history is publicly available on the blockchain. The mission of DOP technology is to let users decide what to share and with whom. DOP aims to empower individuals and businesses with more control over their data through selective transparency, utilizing zero-knowledge cryptography and other advanced technologies. For more information, users can visit Data Ownership Protocol's: Official Website | Twitter | Linkedin Official Website Official Website Twitter Twitter Linkedin Linkedin Data Ownership Protocol is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. Contact Marketing DOP marketing@dop.org This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here . here here

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