Tether Announces New Banking Partner, As Competitors Gain Traction

The State of The Market — November 2, 2018BTC: $6,337.78 (-0.80%)ETH: $199.34 (-0.11%)XRP: $0.4608 (+2.03%)

The Crypto market has settled once again, after a brief spike with Bitcoin reaching a peak of $6,500 yesterday. The price of Bitcoin has retraced to around $6,350, while Ethereum is trading just below $200. However, the top 10 coins are in green today, except Bitcoin and Ethereum. The total market cap also remains unchanged and is at $205.5 Billion.

In other news, HSBC, Standard Chartered, and other banks have launched a blockchain-powered trade finance platform in Hong Kong. Named “eTrade Connect,” it is expected to bring efficiency to the multi-trillion-dollar funding for the international trade by digitizing trade documents and automating trade finance processes. Also, Bitcoin teller machine (BTM) operator Coinsource has received a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Coinsource is the first Bitcoin ATM provider to obtain a BitLicense, and the company currently has 40 BTMs in the state of New York to buy and sell Bitcoins.

1) Yesterday Tether (USDT) announced that they have established a new banking relationship with Deltec Bank & Trust Limited. The 72-year old bank is headquartered in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Tether made the announcement via Twitter and also provided a link to an official balance confirmation document dated October 31, 2018. The document was issued by Deltec Bank & Trust Limited, and it shows that Tether has a balance of $1,831,322,828. A press release on Tether’s official website explains that the new partnership will allow Tether to maintain its USD-peg and that the company is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Tether also stated that the company follows all anti-money-laundering (AML) procedures and all USDT in circulation are “fully backed by US dollars.” (Read More)

2) USDT competitors like Gemini Dollar, Paxos, TrueUSD, and USD Coin are slowly absorbing the territory once held by Tether’s USDT stablecoin. Collectively, the four stablecoins have attracted more than $400 million in fiat, while USDT’s market cap dropped more than $1 billion throughout the month of October. USDT is still struggling to regain dollar parity on a number of cryptocurrency exchanges. TrueUSD (TUSD) has already issued $79 million worth of tokens, and the stablecoin’s market cap has doubled to $174 million over the past two months. After listing on Coinbase, USD Coin’s market cap has grown to $127 million, and PAX is at $107 million. Surprisingly, Gemini’s GUSD has been the slowest of the pack. Currently, GUSD has an $11 million market cap and regularly maintains $7.5 million in daily trading volume. (Read More)

3) Morgan Stanley report now describes cryptocurrency as a “New Institutional Investment Class.” The report titled “Bitcoin Decrypted: A Brief Teach-In and Implications” describes Bitcoin and altcoins as a “new institutional investment class”. The report also describes “surprising” developments which support the investment firm’s bullish point of view. It suggests that the cryptocurrency sector has been strengthened by the formation of new funds and the “growth” of cryptocurrency-backed futures. The report also states that decentralized technology will make the world “better”, and anonymous sources have told mainstream media that Morgan Stanley is quietly developing Bitcoin trading products for its clients. (Read More)

4) Google and Samsung have invested in the popular Ethereum-based game, Cryptokitties. Dapper Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties, announced that is has secured $15 million in funding from Venrock, Google Ventures, SamsungNEXT and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The investing round also included companies not typically associated with venture capital, such as e-sports firm aXiomatic and talent recruiter William Morris Endeavor. Just a few months ago, Dapper Labs raised $12 million from a16z and Union Square Ventures. Venrock partner David Pakman explained that “for the first time we can make scarce digital items” and he believes that there is a “mega-market” for digital collectibles. To date, Dapper Labs has raised $27 million in funding, and it’s highly likely that the blockchain firm is on the verge of a new release. (Read More)

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