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> Tethers is a sole-source cryptocurrency, pegged to the US dollar. There are others though not really at Tether's level. There is bitUSD on cryptocurrency ca

> Tethers is a sole-source cryptocurrency, pegged to the US dollar. There are others though not really at Tether's level. There is bitUSD on cryptocurrency called Bitshares. > Is this good news for Bitcoin? Oh this is great news for Bitcoin. Some more discussion on this topic here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15633852 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15633852 To add to your post, there are some claims on the fact that it is not finex which has the highest volume rather Bittrex and Poloneix. There is an interesting reason for that- there is no market for BTC/USDT on Bitfinex as far as I can tell: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#markets https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#markets Though I am unable to open the exchange link - https://www.bitfinex.com/t/USDT:USD https://www.bitfinex.com/t/USDT:USD This means if I need my USDT to convert to BTC Finex is not the place. They are rather Poloneix and Bittrex which have an exchange for BTC/USDT. Hence people are going to those exchanges in droves, instead of finex. The second interesting thing is as far as I can tell, finex seems to peg the USDT to $1 and invariably sell/buy at the same price. There is no free float. While others have a free float to BTC/USDT which means prices can be pushed higher there. So I will not be surprised if Bittrex/Poloneix had higher BTC prices. That said, the chart of USDT is also interesting: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts The peg was maintained for a long while before things seem to get hairy in April/May this year.

darawk 9y ago
There are two types of divergences for Tether, and they each mean different things. 1. USDT > USD. This is the benign version. This signifies increased demand for Tether itself. This happens when there are arbitrage opportunities between exchanges that can only be exploited quickly using Tether. This is the variety that is most common, and exactly what Tether was intended to be used for. 2. USDT < USD. This is bad. This means that people are willing to take a small haircut to not be holding Tether. This means that the market views Tether as risky in some way, possibly implying insolvency. This has happened a few times, but is less common. Understanding this is essential to interpreting Tether, price divergences, and also the nominal divergence between prices on different exchanges.
- thisisit 9y ago
  Where's the proof on your claim? From the looks of the chart here(if you need more clarity zoom from April to date): https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts It is you second but is less common, USDT < USD is what is happening more. Sure there are some spikes in the opposite direction.
  - darawk 9y ago
    I'd say that that chart shows that when USDT < USD it is larger, but less frequent. Look more closely and I think you'll agree.
modeless 9y ago
> there is no market for BTC/USDT on Bitfinex as far as I can tell You have it backwards. There is no BTC/USD market on Bitfinex. Their "BTC/USD" market is a BTC/Tether market. They have simply labeled it wrong to mislead people. USD cannot be deposited or withdrawn from Bitfinex, only Tether, and that makes their "USD" market a Tether market no matter what the ticker says. It's really a brilliant scam, but it's only a matter of time before Tether is shut down for enabling money laundering, and Bitfinex with it. Banning US citizens may buy them a little time but it won't last forever. Bitfinex will be the next BTC-e, only worse. Not only is their volume higher than BTC-e, they may bring down Bittrex and Poloniex with them.

darawk 9y ago

There are two types of divergences for Tether, and they each mean different things. 1. USDT > USD. This is the benign version. This signifies increased demand for Tether itself. This happens when there are arbitrage opportunities between exchanges that can only be exploited quickly using Tether. This is the variety that is most common, and exactly what Tether was intended to be used for. 2. USDT < USD. This is bad. This means that people are willing to take a small haircut to not be holding Tether. This means that the market views Tether as risky in some way, possibly implying insolvency. This has happened a few times, but is less common. Understanding this is essential to interpreting Tether, price divergences, and also the nominal divergence between prices on different exchanges.

thisisit 9y ago
Where's the proof on your claim? From the looks of the chart here(if you need more clarity zoom from April to date): https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts It is you second but is less common, USDT < USD is what is happening more. Sure there are some spikes in the opposite direction.
- darawk 9y ago
  I'd say that that chart shows that when USDT < USD it is larger, but less frequent. Look more closely and I think you'll agree.

modeless 9y ago

> there is no market for BTC/USDT on Bitfinex as far as I can tell You have it backwards. There is no BTC/USD market on Bitfinex. Their "BTC/USD" market is a BTC/Tether market. They have simply labeled it wrong to mislead people. USD cannot be deposited or withdrawn from Bitfinex, only Tether, and that makes their "USD" market a Tether market no matter what the ticker says. It's really a brilliant scam, but it's only a matter of time before Tether is shut down for enabling money laundering, and Bitfinex with it. Banning US citizens may buy them a little time but it won't last forever. Bitfinex will be the next BTC-e, only worse. Not only is their volume higher than BTC-e, they may bring down Bittrex and Poloniex with them.