Tether (USDT)

A previous report by University of Texas researchers claimed Tether grants are used to shore up bitcoin’s support levels. A new report by University of Queensland Business School researcher says there is no evidence that Tether issuances lead to bitcoin price rises. A correlation between Tether grants and bitcoin trading volume was found, however, the researchers pointed out that there are many reasons besides manipulation for this.

A lot’s happening in the bitcoin space. For one thing, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has pushed their decision-making process regarding the VanEck SolidX bitcoin ETF to December. Previously, they had scheduled their decision for September 30 – approximately eight days from now – which, in turn, was a delay of its previous timeframe. …

Controversial USD-pegged cryptocurrency tether (USDT) has no real impact on the bitcoin price, a new paper from a University of Queensland researcher says.

A recent study conducted by Dr. Wang Chun Wei, a lecturer at the business school of Australia’s University of Queensland, has found that the

Issuance of tether (USDT), the controversial stablecoin, has had no meaningful impact on the price of bitcoin, a newly published academic study found.

Recently, ShapeShift, one of the rare instant asset exchanges in the world, announced its support for the 8th largest cryptocurrency, Tether [USDT]. On their official Twitter handle, ShapeShift announced: “Great news $USDT is available on ShapeShift! Buy & sell #USDT along with dozens of digital assets. Learn more about this token here: http://tether.to @Tether_to” Tether […]

Dunamu, the operator of South Korea based cryptocurrency trading platform, Upbit announced the opening of Upbit Singapore next month. This news is reported on 19th September by Yonhap News, a local media outlet. Alex Kim, the CEO of Upbit Singapore has clarified in an official statement that local users of the platform can conduct trading of all the digital currencies. These cryptocurrencies are actually incorporated in Bittrex platform that happens to be its partner exchange. A high level of security will be provided at the exchange having 24/7 supervision on a real time basis. He has mentioned about Monetary Authority of Singapore [MAS],  the nation’s central bank, which is involved in framing regulatory framework to manage crypto market space and about the government’s positive signal towards establishing a blockchain  and crypto domain in the nation. These two factors prompted the South Korean exchange operator Dunamu to take its first step towards Singapore.

Statements of Upbit Singapore head

In Kim’s opinion, since Singapore has opened its arms for the setting up of businesses based on virtual currencies and blockchain technology, hence, crypto exchanges can get a boost to move ahead with blockchain projects. According to the statement of the exchange’s Singapore head, “As Singapore has proactively supported blockchain technology, our advancement into the nation will help us secure many chances to lead a variety of relevant projects and to have global competitiveness.”   Last year, the trading platform has backed fiat pairings against Korea’s national currency, Won in South Korea’s native crypto exchange market space. The presence of the robust banking institutional partners has made Upbit confident about the integration of Singaporean dollar. This will assist in maintaining people’s inclination and demand for cryptocurrencies. In Kim’s words, ‘“We are confident Upbit’s secure and convenient exchange service, combined with the ability to trade in Singapore dollars, as well Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT via Bittrex support will allow us to attract users and establish Upbit’s presence in the global market.” See also: Crypto exchanges should pick cryptos with better returns; Upbit CEO  See also: Terra wins backing from Binance, Okex, Huobi, Upbit; raises $32 million to support its stablecoin project Image via Shutterstock Join our Telegram group  

BLOCKCHAIN NEWS   GoChain and Esprezzo join hands to offer additional tools for building dApps GoChain, a scalable, high- performance, and decentralized cryptocurrency and blockchain that supports smart contracts, has announced its partnership with Esprezzo, a middleware platform which allows developers to build dApps without any prior knowledge of blockchain. This merger will help developers with additional tools required for building cutting-edge blockchain-integrated products. Read more TigerWit joins hands with Liverpool FC and launches blockchain-based trading app Liverpool FC is the latest addition to the burgeoning list of football clubs who are giving in to the growing lure of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. In a press release published on Monday, the club announced that it is joining hands with UK-headquartered global financial technology company TigerWit Limited as its new official online foreign exchange trading partner. 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Read more Verseon, a pharmaceutical platform now welcomes blockchain experiment Verseon, a pharmaceutical company in U.S. has now entered the list of medical associations which are open to blockchain based experiments. Today, on 18th September the organisation published a press release shedding light on its new venture on blockchain.This form of progressive technology has taken its first step towards the field of pharmacy in the recent times. Read more Gemalto and R3 Tech to help users control their Digital ID To put users in control of their Digital ID, Gemalto is teaming up with R3 Tech. According to the Gemalto website, their Trust ID Network enables users to have a control over their personal data- to whom it is sent and when it is sent.Its omnipresent ‘self-sovereign’ identities will allow on-boarding at different online services more secure and private. Read more CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS Singapore’s central bank cautions citizens against Bitcoin scam website The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently warned locals about a Bitcoin scam website that has used statements falsely attributed to Tharman Shanmugaratnam, MAS chairman and deputy prime minister. Apart from him saying that the country’s cryptocurrency trading is low, all other comments on the website are misleading and false. Read more Developers fix scary bug in Bitcoin Core eliminating DoS vulnerability The co-owner of Bitcoin.org who goes by the name Cobra on Twitter tweeted on September 18 that a hazardous bug was found and fixed on Bitcoin Core. The bug could have harmed a large portion of the Bitcoin network.In his words, “A very scary bug in Bitcoin Core has just been fixed which could have crashed a huge chunk of the Bitcoin network if exploited by any rogue miners. Read more Prepare to lose all your money: UK lawmakers warn cryptocurrency investors British lawmakers have cautioned cryptocurrency investors, saying that they should be prepared to lose all their money as crypto assets and ICOs are “extremely risky”. A recent report, published by the British Parliament’s Treasury Committee, examines the cryptocurrency landscape and stresses the need for regulations in the industry, which will enforce consumer protection against digital assets and ICOs. Read more XRP piloted with 12 banks before creation of the xRapid product: Ripple official In a recent FinTech conference, Ripple official, Sagar Sarbhai, shared information regarding the use of XRP by banks. He also revealed that XRP piloted with 12 banks before creating the xRapid product.Sarbhai, who is the Ripple’s Head of Government and Regulatory Relations for APAC and the Middle East, mentioned that the banks were all based in different regions of the world. According to an AMBCrypto report, he said, “In 2016 what we did was we piloted with 12 banks. These 12 banks were based across regions across the globe and they did not have prefunded relationships with each other. And what we did was we gave these banks some XRP and asked them to settle within themselves and it worked beautifully.” Read more Could another U.S. market crash push investors to Bitcoin? September 15 marked the ten-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest Wall Street investment bank, resulting from a crippling economic crisis. The wounds of the 2008 financial crisis are still fresh, especially in the eyes of those still recovering from the dark episode of being rendered homeless and unemployed. The past decade led to a wave of financial reform and regulations, and American households are evidently reaping the benefits. Read more Asia’s Bitcoin futures trading volumes “almost the same” as US: crypto trading expert Don Wilson, founder of trading company DRW, has stated that Asia’s Bitcoin futures trading volumes are almost the same as the volumes seen in the U.S. While speaking to John Detrixhe of mediahouse Quartz at the CoinDesk Consensus Singapore 2018 conference, Wilson discussed the trends seen in crypto trading and its scope for growth in the future. Read more Tron to get TRX/BNB trading pair on Binance Exchange Tron – the 13th largest cryptocurrency in the world according to market cap – will now get TRX/BNB trading pair on Binance. Tron is currently among the most popular altcoins, thanks to a series of positive developments in the past few months.Adding to this growing list, Binance announced that it will add a new TRX trading pair with the platform’s native cryptocurrency – Binance Coin (BNB). Read more NASDAQ bids $190 million for crypto-friendly start-up Nasdaq, the world’s second largest stock exchange in terms of market capitalization, has set the crypto-world alight yet again. This time, the exchange is seeking to acquire Cinnober, a Stockholm-based firm that offers real-time clearing technology for trading venues and clearinghouses across the world. 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New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood mentioned the names of these exchanges to the state’s Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Read more Bitcoin to lose 50 percent of its cryptocurrency market share to Ethereum: Analyst Ian McLeod, a business analyst and co-founder of blockchain-based firm Thomas Crown Art, said that Bitcoin might lose half of its market share to Ethereum in the next five years.Thomas Crown Art offers a solution for artists and art collectors that turns art into a secure blockchain wallet, which can be used as a literal “store of value”. Read more Bitcoin’s decline is necessary to build market foundation: Erik Voorhees Erik Voorhees, CEO of Shapeshift and Coinapult, has said that the decline in the price of Bitcoin is essential to build a robust foundation and infrastructure for the market.“Bear markets are for builders. The calm, the quiet, the disillusionment. 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Read more Everything’s well with Tether (USDT) after an unexpected glitch on Monday Everything seems to be normal on the trading front as Tether (USDT), the eighth largest cryptocurrency and the second most traded currency behind bitcoin resumed normal business. The cryptocurrency suffered an unexpected glitch yesterday and stopped working. The tether transactions appeared to be stagnated and had come to a standstill for nearly eight hours on Monday, causing wild speculations in the market. Read more 25% of Bitcoin supply controlled by long term investors; research A research by Diar revealed that the king of cryptocurrencies hasn’t lost its charm as a long-term investment option despite facing a harsh bear market during 2018. According to a Diar research, 25% of the total Bitcoin supply is controlled by the long-term investors. The research found that more than 55% of Bitcoins are in wallets that have more than 200 coins which could easily be worth more than a million dollars when the Bitcoin prices are over the $5000 handle. Read more Businessman Parker released after captors demand 50 bitcoins as ransom After having been for two months in captivity, Liyaqat Parker, a businessman from Capetown was released after his captors had allegedly demanded 50 Bitcoins as ransom.This was true as his family had issued a statement on his release. However, whether the Bitcoin ransom was paid or not remains a mystery as his family rejected giving further information. 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Wright and his followers are fighting for an increase in the blocksize to increase the transactional capacity while Wu represents the other side which says an increase in blocksize will result in increased decentralization. Read more Czech Republic Prime Minister claims opposition party involved in Bitcoin mining The political turmoil in Czech Republic has taken quite a turn, with the country’s prime minister accusing the opposition party of mining Bitcoin. Andrej Babiš, the Czech premier, has said that the Czech Pirate Party has made no significant contribution to the IT sector apart from being involved in Bitcoin mining activity. Read more Image via Shutterstock Join Our Telegram Group

The market-wide freeze of USDT tokens has been resolved, with the flaw attributed to USDT users not running full Omni nodes.

Everything seems to be normal on the trading front as Tether (USDT), the eighth largest cryptocurrency and the second most traded currency behind bitcoin resumed normal business. The cryptocurrency suffered an unexpected glitch yesterday and stopped working. The tether transactions appeared to be stagnated and had come to a standstill for nearly eight hours on Monday, causing wild speculations in the market. The USD-pegged stablecoin, which its issuer says is backed by physical dollars stored in company-controlled bank accounts, operates as a token on top of the Omni protocol, which itself is secured by the bitcoin blockchain. On Monday, users of Omni’s hosted wallet and block explorer services noticed that transactions had stalled. Omni developers said that the issue stemmed, not from any problem with the platform’s actual protocol, but with the parsing engine that feeds data to Omni Explorer and Omniwallet. https://twitter.com/Omni_Layer/status/1041787597901766656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1041787597901766656&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ccn.com%2Ftether-transactions-resume-normal-operations-following-incident-with-omni-api%2F

Was Tether responsible for low BTC trade volumes?

However, the incident sparked off speculations that something more serious had happened, like a hack or other technical glitches affecting Tether. Nothing was heard from the Tether side, which as usual didn’t address the issue directly and retweeted Omni’s original tweet that it had identified the problem with the parsing engine that feeds data to the wallet and the blockchain explorer. Nevertheless, it seems that many applications and services that support tether, including exchanges, were using Omni’s free hosted API service rather than running their own full nodes. Consequently, transactions through these platforms froze throughout the incident, which lasted nearly eight hours, much more than what was expected by the developers. So, we can safely conclude that Tether (USDT) was not the cause for low BTC trade volumes witnessed on the 17th of September. This is due to the fact that the glitch in verifying the data was from the backend of Omni Layer that operates Omni Explorer: a platform that tracks USDT transactions. The incident of low bitcoin trade was an independent phenomenon in itself and an indication of things to come with the bearish trend in the market set to continue further. Tether is currently positioned as the eighth-largest cryptocurrency, with a circulating market cap of $2.754 billion at the time of writing. The firm’s “treasury” has not issued any new tokens since Sept. 2, when it sent 100 million USDT from the treasury address to Bitfinex. See Also: Tether runs over Cardano; positions itself as #8 in the crypto market Bitcoin (BTC) surge expected as $100m Tether (USDT) goes to Bitfinex exchange Image via Shutterstock Join our Telegram group

The very existence of Tether explains why a comprehensive background search is needed before investing in any cryptocurrency. It is

Tether (USDT), the eighth-largest cryptocurrency and the second most-traded coin behind bitcoin, is once again functioning as normal.

The stablecoin was unavailable for transactions for eight hours due to a glitch at the Omni protocol.

U.S.-based bitcoin exchange Kraken has announced a major expansion to its OTC trading platform which will enhance the execution of large block trades for clients worldwide. — Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) 17 September 2018 According to the statement, Kraken now offers deeper liquidity and private, personalized service to institutions and high net-worth individuals needing to fill large orders. “Whether you are trading blocks of 100,000 USD, 100,000,000 EUR or 2,000 Bitcoin, the OTC desk will provide you with execution and settlement services that are discrete, secure and ultra-competitive,” said the exchange. The new service is available with 17 different assets (Bitcoin (XBT), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether Classic (ETC), Ripple (XRP), Lumens (XLM), EOS (EOS), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR), Dash (DASH), Zcash (ZEC), Melon (MLN), Augur (REP), Gnosis (GNO), Iconomi (ICN), Tether (USDT), Dogecoin (DOGE), and three fiat currencies: US dollars (USD), Euros

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All coins from the top 10 coins by 24-hour volume posted negative changes, ranging from 3.41% to 10.88%. Digifinex replaces Tether with TrueUSD. Tezos mainnet goes live, XTZ gets listed on Bitfinex.

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has tried silencing Bitfinex’ed, a vocal critic on Twitter, which has finally resulted in what is popularly known as the “Streisand effect”. This phenomenon, named after American singer and actress Barbara Streisand, refers to an attempt to  censor data available online, leading to heightened publicity of the attempt and eventually, just makes matters worse. Such an incident is not uncommon at a time when social media is booming and Bitfinex is the latest to fall into such a trap. The Hong Kong-based crypto exchange has been the target of many critics, but one in particular has really ticked the platform off. The relentless critique and claims of Twitter user Bitfinex’ed led to the exchange reaching out to legal firm Steptoe & Johnson to encounter the critic.

When a fraudulent company tries to get you banned from Twitter by spamming you with hundreds of thousands of fake followers, temporarily succeeding, and then it makes national news resulting in… the Streisand Effect. pic.twitter.com/UzkhMXhlkh

— Bitfinex’ed (@Bitfinexed) September 18, 2018

According to reports, “A vocal crypto critic says bot army got him suspended by Twitter. Twitter Inc. has suspended an account that’s been one of the loudest critics of digital currency exchange Bitfinex and its related cryptocurrency Tether. The author, known only as @Bitfinexed, declines to identify himself, saying he’s worried about his safety.”
The suspension of the critic’s account comes at a time when the crypto exchange and Tether are facing a host of controversies. Once the link between these two organizations came to light, Tether immediately announced that Friedman LLP, a New York-based audit firm, was auditing its financial reserves. In an attempt to counter the mounting criticism it was facing, Tether released certain preliminary auditing files. Critics instantly attacked the company for providing such inconclusive documents. In addition, Tether had also terminated its relationship with its auditor, stating that an audit could not be conducted in a “reasonable time frame”. The company has not yet disclosed when a proper audit would be carried out.

Other actions of the critic

This is not the first time that the critic on Twitter has voiced out accusations against significant crypto companies such as Tether and Bitfinex. Earlier, the account had attacked eminent personalities from the crypto space for being involved in illegal activities. The user also accused Charlie Lee, founder of Litecoin, of being involved in insider trading activity at a time when he was already Coinbase’s CTO. See also: Bitfinex launches Ethfinex, the Ethereum based exchange See also: Bitfinex unveils EOSfinex decentralised exchange, Beta launch on September 26 Image via Shutterstock Join our Telegram group

The 24 hour trade volume of Bitcoin (BTC) from the 16th of September, to the 17th, was unusually low. On these two days, BTC 24 hour trades volumes oscillated between $3.1 Billion and $3.3 Billion. Checking current 24 hour trade volumes for BTC, they are currently valued at $3.9 Billion and at the more normal …

Tether’s Omni Layer was apparently facing some problems at around 9PM London time on September 17th. They said: “We are experiencing an issue with the parsing engine that feeds data…

Switzerland is planning to tokenize its national currency, responding to USDT and El Petro. The idea behind this new stablecoin is rather traditional for the sector – to combine all the pros of a cryptocurrency and eliminate its main shortcoming – high volatility.

Singaporean crypto exchange Digifinex has announced its decision to replace its platform stablecoin USDT with TrustToken’s TrueUSD in what comes as yet another blow to Tether’s embattled stablecoin.

Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange operated by iFinex Inc, announced the launch of Ethfinex, a hybrid Ethereum-based exchange. Through Ethfinex, prospective traders will be able to transact over 57 Ethereum-based tokens. Ethfinex was in its beta phase for the better part of a year, before being unveiled via a blog post entitled “Introducing Ethfinex Trustless: A high-performance platform for decentralized trading”.

Introducing Ethfinex Trustless – an Ethereum based trading solution placing security, privacy and control in the hands of the user.

Take control of your trading on https://t.co/KjfSyA0C6O.https://t.co/YYdd1b2LE7 — Ethfinex (@ethfinex) September 17, 2018

Will Harborne, director of operations at Ethfinex, said: “Today represents the culmination of a prolonged phase of hard work and dedication fueled by our vision for a decentralized, community-governed trading platform. We are beyond excited to leverage Ethereum to deliver a sophisticated, trustless trading experience to users worldwide and to further extend the boundaries of decentralized exchange.” The aforementioned announcement by the company specified the following features of the specialized exchange, “no signups, no deposit or withdrawal delays and no sacrificing custody of your tokens.” Throughout the trading process, the funds will be in full control of the user and a highly liquid off-chain order book will be maintained for executing trades. The on-chain platform will see trading through MetaMas, Trezor, Keystore, and others. Ethfinex seeks to bring forth a more secure, private and liquid digital asset trading system, thereby confronting concerns people have with centralized exchanges. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum and Bitcoin Magazine, while speaking to TechCrunch in July, had voiced his opinion against centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. He harshly stated that he hoped they would “go burn in hell as much as possible.” “Through removing the array of concerns associated with current centralized entities, Ethfinex aims to power a new era of digital asset trading which prioritizes the control individuals have on the security, privacy, and liquidity of their trading experience. We are dedicated to showcasing the power of decentralized and trustless trading solutions as this exciting journey continues,” said Harborne, in an attempt to quell concerns stemming from the usage of the on-chain platform. See also: Bitcoin (BTC) surge expected as $100m Tether (USDT) goes to Bitfinex exchange See also: Bitfinex unveils EOSfinex decentralized exchange, Beta launch on September 26 Image via Google Join our Telegram group

Grandshores Technology Group is on the verge of raising HK$100 million through a digital token fund to finance a yen-backed cryptocurrency project, according to a report by South China Morning Post. Grandshores is a Hong Kong-based contractor turned blockchain investor. Grandshores’ hub to blockchain investment is the result of a purchase of SHIS by a company controlled by Yongjie Yao in May and its succeeding backdoor listing Li Xiaolai, the Bitcoin king of China is another backer of the fund The chairman of the Grandshores Technology Group stated that the company call for investors who are qualified enough to raise funds denominated in Tether. These investors would mostly be non-Chinese. Tether is a stablecoin backed by the US Dollar. Yao said Grandshores was looking to fund start-ups and crypto projects from around the world so that it distorts the traditional financial system and also break the business of technology and internet Gods who are right now ruling the business charts. “Blockchain will become the mainstream technology in the next three to five years. We are entering the next stage of blockchain evolution, a stage which is akin to when computer operating system was transiting from MS-DOS [disk operating system] to MS-Windows,” said Yongjie Yao. The yen stablecoin project is being handled by the Hangzhou Grandshores fund and is tying up with a mid-tier Japanese bank whose name Yao did not reveal As of now, they will seek demand for the yen stablecoin and later on explore the stablecoin project with Hong Kong dollar and Australian dollar. According to Yao, they will launch the Yen pegged stablecoin by the end of 2018 or early 2019. “We believe cryptocurrency traders and exchanges will be potential takers of these stablecoin,” he said. As reported by BC Focus earlier, China’s blockchain industrial park in Hangzhou have come up with a policy that has been designed to vigorously unleash high-level talents at home and abroad in order to expand the development of the blockchain industry. See Also: Digifinex ousts Tether [USDT], lists TrueUSD [TUSD] A Tether rival & U.S. dollar pegged cryptocurrency gets launched at Gemini Image via Shutterstock Join our telegram group

Crypto markets are hard to predict. It’s true. It’s doubtful that Satoshi (whoever he or she may be) would have anticipated the 2017 Bitcoin bubble. However, with so much now in play here and an excessive amount of wealth held by crypto whales and institutions, why are we–the majority of the crypto community–allowing the markets …

The crypto market seems to be in a bear trend today as major cryptocurrencies are losing in the market, with major coins like Ethereum and EOS exhibiting losses of over 5%. Bitcoin is down by 3% and the bears can be seen tightening the noose around the market causing prices to fall further. Bitcoin is trading below $6500 and is exchanging hands in red while Tether [USDT] remains the sole winner of the battle featuring 0.08% gain among the major cryptos. Ethereum [ETH] which seemed to be holding its ground until yesterday started exhibiting a steep decline and began trading in the bearish trendline. Ethereum which was trading above $300 started declining after a series of negative news and plunged to $260 in a span of 12 hours. Some speculate that this steep fall in prices happened due to ICOs dumping large amounts of Ether on the cryptocurrency market. Ripple’s XRP prices are also battling a bearish trend. Ripple’s bank partners from the Middle East and the imminent xRapid launch doesn’t seem to have affected its prices. XRP is losing by 2.26% against USD. The cryptocurrency showcasing major loss among the top ten cryptocurrencies is EOS [EOS]. EOS has plummeted by 8% in the past 24 hours and is trading below $5. Tether [USDT] is the only coin among the top ten coins gaining in the market. Tether, unlike the other cryptos, has been facing pressure from its newly invented rivals like TrueUSD and Gemini dollar. Digifinex, a crypto exchange has even replaced Tether with TrueUSD. Tether is allegedly embroiled in murky dealings regarding price manipulation among other things.

See Also: ICON launches ICON MainNet version 3.0

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There has been a sudden rise in the number of stablecoins that are present in the market. Many would think why such is necessary in the same

Tracking large movements of value in the cryptocurrency world becomes a lot easier through the Whale Alert feature. This Twitter account scans Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and ERC20 transactions for large incoming and outgoing transfers pertaining to exchange platforms. It is a valuable addition to the cryptocurrency world, especially for those who enjoy exploring this type …

Digifinex has announced important changes in the list of the coins available on the platform: TrueUSD (TUSD) will now replace Tether (USDT).

The exchange plans to remove nine trading pairs with USDT and to add new six coins to its Tether market.