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USDT/USD dipping below $1.00 for the first time in awhile: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#char

USDT/USD dipping below $1.00 for the first time in awhile: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts

granaldo 9y ago
Not first time, click all-time chart or check max timeline here https://www.coingecko.com/en/price_charts/tether/usd https://www.coingecko.com/en/price_charts/tether/usd and you will see occasional dips. Its been +/- from $1
- joosters 9y ago
  The last time seems to have been in May 2017, when there were 'only' $60 million tethers floating around, compared to the $2.2 billion in existence now...
JumpCrisscross 9y ago
On the “Markets” page, “Volume (%)” doesn’t add up to anything close to one hundred. Are they excluding Bitfinex?
empath75 9y ago
More worryingly, there’s a widening spread in btc price between bitfinex and gdax. That implies people are getting out of tether on bitfinex and selling btc on other exchanges to get dollars.
prostoalex 9y ago
Here’s what I never understood - how come Tether (the company) never arbitraged the USDT/USD pair when it traded at a premium? Seems like easy money for them.
- JonnyNova 9y ago
  Why would they need to? They could just print more tether. Even easier money.
  - prostoalex 9y ago
    Sell 1 USDT for 1.04 USD, keep the $0.04 as actual profit? Assuming it’s not an outright scam, what’s the business model for issuing and redeeming warrants at 1:1 parity?
    - Nursie 9y ago
      AFAICT they never redeem tether, ever.
    - mtgx 9y ago
      I believe that's their business model. When there's a market pullback and many want to go into USDT, they sell their USDT for $1.04 or so, and when there's a bull-run and people want out at USDT, they buy back around $0.96. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, published a post on coins like Tether a few years ago: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/mastercoin-a-second-generation-protocol-on-the-bitcoin-blockchain-1383603310/ https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/mastercoin-a-second-gen... My understanding is that unless there's a "tether-run", where everyone wants to get out of Tether at once and the company behind Tether isn't well prepared for it, then that's when the coin may actually crash. Otherwise, it will self-stabilize by putting more Tether on the market, or taking Tether out of the market. So in a way, I guess it works a little like the Federal Reserve. As for not having enough money to "back Tether", this is bad in the sense that they promised they would, and they're not showing proof that this is true. However, it's "only" as bad as any real-world bank that uses a fractional reserve banking scheme. So just like a fractional reserve banking entity would crash as soon as there is a major bank run, similarly Tether would crash if they don't actually have 1:1 USD:USDT backing. So Tether is about as "shady" as any of the major US banks - and yes, I would agree that both are pretty damn shady. But this seems to be the status quo right now, so if you don't trust Tether, I surely hope you're not keeping your money in a bank either, because I think we're getting close to another financial bust, and we'll go through the same crap or worse that we went through in 2008 with the defrauding banks.
      - notahacker 9y ago
        The second part of your post is utter nonsense. If a company makes money from issuing tokens and lying about them being backed by the USD, it's definitely more shady than a regulated financial institution which makes money by lending money at a higher rate than it borrows it, and is definitely more at risk of a "run" even without ignoring all the rules in place to ensure that banks will always be able to borrow at less than they lend, and protections for deposit holders in the event of a bank's loan portfolio going under.
jpmattia 9y ago
> USDT/USD dipping below $1.00 for the first time in awhile The dip corresponds with a $600M increase in the market cap, so is likely explained by a sudden increase in supply. It would be worrisome only if the price didn't get back to parity.

USDT/USD dipping below $1.00 for the first time in awhile: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/#charts

granaldo 9y ago

Not first time, click all-time chart or check max timeline here https://www.coingecko.com/en/price_charts/tether/usd https://www.coingecko.com/en/price_charts/tether/usd and you will see occasional dips. Its been +/- from $1

joosters 9y ago
The last time seems to have been in May 2017, when there were 'only' $60 million tethers floating around, compared to the $2.2 billion in existence now...

JumpCrisscross 9y ago

On the “Markets” page, “Volume (%)” doesn’t add up to anything close to one hundred. Are they excluding Bitfinex?

empath75 9y ago

More worryingly, there’s a widening spread in btc price between bitfinex and gdax. That implies people are getting out of tether on bitfinex and selling btc on other exchanges to get dollars.

prostoalex 9y ago

Here’s what I never understood - how come Tether (the company) never arbitraged the USDT/USD pair when it traded at a premium? Seems like easy money for them.

JonnyNova 9y ago
Why would they need to? They could just print more tether. Even easier money.
- prostoalex 9y ago
  Sell 1 USDT for 1.04 USD, keep the $0.04 as actual profit? Assuming it’s not an outright scam, what’s the business model for issuing and redeeming warrants at 1:1 parity?
  - Nursie 9y ago
    AFAICT they never redeem tether, ever.
  - mtgx 9y ago
    I believe that's their business model. When there's a market pullback and many want to go into USDT, they sell their USDT for $1.04 or so, and when there's a bull-run and people want out at USDT, they buy back around $0.96. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, published a post on coins like Tether a few years ago: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/mastercoin-a-second-generation-protocol-on-the-bitcoin-blockchain-1383603310/ https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/mastercoin-a-second-gen... My understanding is that unless there's a "tether-run", where everyone wants to get out of Tether at once and the company behind Tether isn't well prepared for it, then that's when the coin may actually crash. Otherwise, it will self-stabilize by putting more Tether on the market, or taking Tether out of the market. So in a way, I guess it works a little like the Federal Reserve. As for not having enough money to "back Tether", this is bad in the sense that they promised they would, and they're not showing proof that this is true. However, it's "only" as bad as any real-world bank that uses a fractional reserve banking scheme. So just like a fractional reserve banking entity would crash as soon as there is a major bank run, similarly Tether would crash if they don't actually have 1:1 USD:USDT backing. So Tether is about as "shady" as any of the major US banks - and yes, I would agree that both are pretty damn shady. But this seems to be the status quo right now, so if you don't trust Tether, I surely hope you're not keeping your money in a bank either, because I think we're getting close to another financial bust, and we'll go through the same crap or worse that we went through in 2008 with the defrauding banks.
    - notahacker 9y ago
      The second part of your post is utter nonsense. If a company makes money from issuing tokens and lying about them being backed by the USD, it's definitely more shady than a regulated financial institution which makes money by lending money at a higher rate than it borrows it, and is definitely more at risk of a "run" even without ignoring all the rules in place to ensure that banks will always be able to borrow at less than they lend, and protections for deposit holders in the event of a bank's loan portfolio going under.

jpmattia 9y ago

> USDT/USD dipping below $1.00 for the first time in awhile The dip corresponds with a $600M increase in the market cap, so is likely explained by a sudden increase in supply. It would be worrisome only if the price didn't get back to parity.