Tether: not even a scam

[ulhaq]

My understanding is that there are no reserves in BTC. People can trade BTC with USDT as they see fit. But only USDT are created for USD in reserve. Can you clarify if this is not the case?

Suggest you read the post that started this thread.

According to your own post (the one that started this thread):

All tethers are pegged at one-to-one with matching fiat currency (e.g., 1 USD₮ = 1 USD) and are backed 100% by actual assets in our reserve account.

In other words, no reserves in BTC. Why did you direct me to your own post when it supports me?

I also discussed this exact topic in either this thread or another one on tether.

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[Croin]

The problem is that they simply didn't manage so far to get a backing by real money. It's not like you could change it to USD at Tether they simply don't have that amount of USD.

[sp_skeptic]

All tethers are pegged at one-to-one with matching fiat currency (e.g., 1 USD₮ = 1 USD) and are backed 100% by actual assets in our reserve account.

In other words, no reserves in BTC. Why did you direct me to your own post when it supports me?

I also discussed this exact topic in either this thread or another one on tether.

If you read the original post further, I point out that the terms of service contradict the "pegged one-to-one" claim. Tether specifically disclaims any obligation to redeem Tethers for money. I was referring to your statement about Tether having USD in reserve - what relevance does this have if people with Tethers have no actual claim on those reserves?

[ulhaq]

Not wasting further time here, no one knows what they are talking about.

Well tether idea is quite good, the problem is the way it have been done, the last post they did is about they are getting problems with banks for usd withdraws, it is not good, second problem is they have a % of his reserves at BTC and in this way they are getting a big volatility risk, and thirs one and more important for me, they are not being capable of get the peg stable

the only way to do it is to get listed in a full licenced exchange which allow usd/usdt pair and get the 100& of the reserves in usd

of course it is only an opinion

I replied to his post, @sp_skeptic, but you replied with irrelevant links/information.

All tethers are pegged at one-to-one with matching fiat currency (e.g., 1 USD₮ = 1 USD) and are backed 100% by actual assets in our reserve account.

In other words, no reserves in BTC. Why did you direct me to your own post when it supports me?

I also discussed this exact topic in either this thread or another one on tether.

If you read the original post further, I point out that the terms of service contradict the "pegged one-to-one" claim. Tether specifically disclaims any obligation to redeem Tethers for money. I was referring to your statement about Tether having USD in reserve - what relevance does this have if people with Tethers have no actual claim on those reserves?

This has nothing to do with anything, I was only commenting on whether there are BTC in reserve. I agree with you.

The way to evaluate bitUSD is to look at its market cap compared to the total market cap of crypto, and to evaluate it over time. If the total crypto market cap doubled, there should be twice the need for bitUSD. If bitUSD as a percentage of total crypto decreases over time, then the market is proving that bitUSD is flawed.

By your own stated metric, bitUSD is actually doing pretty well.

Oct 2014:
bitUSD:
Market Cap: $392,539
Bitcoin:
Market Cap: $5,241,480,575

Today:
bitUSD:
Market Cap: $4,252,534 +1083%
Bitcoin:
Market Cap: $41,066,547,811 +783%

I did not propose as a comparison to BTC, but rather as % of total crypto market cap. BTC has been decreasing, relatively, now only 40% of total. I only posted the numbers so that in the future my calculations can be verified.

The problem is that they simply didn't manage so far to get a backing by real money. It's not like you could change it to USD at Tether they simply don't have that amount of USD.

According to their website, they do:
https://wallet.tether.to/transparency

[powergecko]

How can i buy tether, cant buy them from polo

[European Central Bank]

How can i buy tether, cant buy them from polo

why do you want to? you're asking on a thread that's spelled out in excruciating detail why it's a questionable piece of shit that'll end up failing like everything similar before it.

[martinholly167]

Friends. All, all in ICN. !!!!! You will be rich ..... !!!!  Big pump...!!!!

[PadenoM]

I'll just wait

Posted From bitcointalk.org Android App

[monsanto]

If tether pumps then it is a failed coin.

The price doesn't pump but the amount of tethers in circulation does. Market cap is now about $320 million. Tether's market cap is in some ways more substantial than normal ones, because it is being compared to market caps that are inflated and don't represent a USD redemption value.

[rednatic1m]

how does  tether make money then ? proving such a good service like this

[de_xt]

Seems Tether is moving to the ethereum blockchain.  They have issued a ERC-20 USDT token in collaboration with Bitfinex.

https://blog.ethfinex.com/announcing-the-erc20-tether-c84cc33f076f3

Wether it is a scam or not, I'm not sure but recent news make it look a bit fishy.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-really-isnt-a-scam-company-promises

http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/09/05/yet-another-25-million-tethers-created-blue/

http://www.coinfox.info/news/7564-tether-issues-70-million-additional-usdt-tokens-in-september

[HashFace]

I don't know if Tether is a scam or not, but I have been interested in it, since it seems like a good place to move your money when things are crashing.  I'm just not good enough of a trader or recognize the signals of a crash ... I hope it does go to Etherium.  And if every tether is truly backed by $1, then it seems like it may be the safest cyrpto ever. 

But as others have mentions, selling coins for a dollar and buying them back for a dollar, while reportedly tying up a dollar in cash for each tether, doesn't seem like a profitable business model.  How do they make money?  Transfer fees?

[de_xt]

When they need money, they just create more tokens and sell for $1 each. The problem is, it's unlikely they would be able to redeem every one of the 300 mln tokens they have issued so far (they don't even have to do it as stated in their TOS). According to the CoinTelegraph article I referenced:

When Tether and Bitfinex had their banking ties cut, there were around 66,000,000 tether tokens in existence. Today, there are 319,501,508 - nearly five times as many. It seems totally irrational that deep-pocketed entities would deposit nearly $250,000,000 with a company that currently has limited banking connections.

In short, even if Tether did decide to redeem tokens that the company insists it is not obligated to redeem, how could they? Without banking partners, there would be no way to transfer the funds

[romani245]

I don't know if Tether is a scam or not, but I have been interested in it, since it seems like a good place to move your money when things are crashing. 

That's true of any centralized exchange. When the price is falling, people want to move their coins to exchanges and sell for USD or other fiat currencies to preserve capital.

The problem is that holding USDT on any exchange doubles your third party exchange risk. Let's say you have USDT on Bittrex. If Bittrex gets hacked, your money might be gone. And if Bitfinex gets hacked, your money might be gone too, because they are the ones who back Tether.

[Harriti]

When they need money, they just create more tokens and sell for $1 each. The problem is, it's unlikely they would be able to redeem every one of the 300 mln tokens they have issued so far (they don't even have to do it as stated in their TOS). According to the CoinTelegraph article I referenced:

When Tether and Bitfinex had their banking ties cut, there were around 66,000,000 tether tokens in existence. Today, there are 319,501,508 - nearly five times as many. It seems totally irrational that deep-pocketed entities would deposit nearly $250,000,000 with a company that currently has limited banking connections.

In short, even if Tether did decide to redeem tokens that the company insists it is not obligated to redeem, how could they? Without banking partners, there would be no way to transfer the funds

Yeah, at first I just think Tether like a virtual USD for helps us keep safe our money when the crypto market has strong volatility but we do not want to withdraw our Bitcoin to FIAT. But after used and read the news from CoinTelegraph, it makes me doubt about keep my money in Tether!

[ROT13]

Doesn't look pretty

https://hackernoon.com/the-curious-tale-of-tethers-6b0031eead87

[erk]

So, is there an alternative crypto to Tether that is actually backed by fiat and transparently audited?

[Cnut237]

The thread title was correct. Tether is clearly not a scam. Okay so they have had some trouble maintaining the peg to the dollar, but this just means that it is not perfect. There is an obvious need for a cryptocoin that is pegged to fiat, and if tether disappeared something else would just replace it.

[Filmmmakerr]

Tether can pump to about 1.05 and it can dump as low as .90 but any more or less won't happen.

[romani245]

Tether can pump to about 1.05 and it can dump as low as .90 but any more or less won't happen.

Unless something catastrophic happens to Bitfinex, like the FBI seizing their domain and bank accounts or another massive hack like last year. If that happens, the fate of Tether is tied to Bitfinex; Tether is owned by Bitfinex's parent company. If something like the aforementioned happens, the value of USDT could plummet and never recover.

This would be disastrous, too, since the circulating supply of USDT has ballooned from < $20 million USD to > $400 million USD since Bitfinex lost banking capabilities. If we are to believe that money wasn't just printed out of thin air, then that increase in supply represents USDT held on exchanges like Kraken, Poloniex and Bittrex. People holding USDT on those exchanges probably don't even realize the third party risk involved.