Tether CTO welcomes PayPal's entrance into stablecoin industry, emphasizes need for competition and regulatory oversight
Paolo Ardoino, the CTO of Tether, has welcomed PayPal's entry into the stablecoin industry, stating that it will encourage competition and drive innovation. He also addressed concerns about Tether's onboarding process, explaining that it requires strict anti-money laundering and know-your-customer procedures to avoid putting users at risk. Despite these measures, Tether has still processed redemptions, redeeming around $325 million worth of assets on August 7th.
Tether's Assets Surge, but Reported Profits Seem to Shrink
Tether Holdings, the stablecoin issuer, reported over $1 billion in "operating" profits for Q2, a 30% increase from the previous quarter. However, the company did not disclose net profit and instead only provided operating profit, leading to apparent profit shrinkage. Tether's definition of operating profit remains unclear, and they did not explain the discrepancy between profit and increased excess reserves of $850 million. Tether's profitability stems from its unique business model, but with rising interest rates, its $80+ billion in reserves could generate substantial passive income.
Tether Becomes 11th Largest Bitcoin Holder in the World
According to insider sources, Tether, the stablecoin issuer, has emerged as the 11th largest holder of Bitcoin globally, with a current holding value of approximately $1.6 billion. While Tether has not officially disclosed its Bitcoin address, research analyst Tom Wain of 21. co claims to have identified a potential Tether address holding around 55,022 Bitcoins, equivalent to $1.6 billion. A direct source familiar with the matter confirmed Tether's position as the 11th largest Bitcoin holder, a ranking also maintained on 21. co's Dune Analytics. Tether declined to comment.
Tether Developers Create New Software for Bitcoin Mining
Tether's development team is close to releasing new JavaScript libraries for managing Bitcoin mining hardware, including popular devices like WhatsMiner, AvalonMiner, and Antminer. The software will be high-quality, polished, and modular, according to Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino. The new developments are based on Holepunch technology and will allow for more streamlined, secure, and cost-efficient interaction between devices in the Bitcoin mining ecosystem. Tether is also working with local energy operators in Uruguay to create a sustainable, green Bitcoin mining ecosystem based on renewable energy sources. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin mining difficulty is set to face its second negative adjustment in a row, dropping by almost 3% on July 26, 2023.
Class Action Lawsuit Against Tether and Bitfinex Dismissed by U.S. District Court Chief Judge for Lack of Plausible Allegations of Injury
Chief Judge Laura Taylor of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed a class action lawsuit against Tether and Bitfinex filed by Matthew Anderson and Shawn Dolifka. The lawsuit was dismissed due to a lack of "plausible allegations of injury" regarding Tether's stablecoin, USDT, being backed one-to-one by the U.S. dollar. The stablecoin issuer stated that the dismissal of the complaint at an early stage of the proceedings shows that the plaintiffs' claims lacked legal merit.
Tether Becomes 11th Largest Bitcoin Holder, Raising Questions About Market Impact and Risk
Stablecoin issuer Tether has reportedly become the 11th largest holder of bitcoin in the world, with an address potentially belonging to Tether holding around 55,022 bitcoins worth $1.6 billion. Tether has not officially disclosed its bitcoin addresses, but the value of holdings matches with the total bitcoin mentioned in Tether's second-quarter reserves report. However, Tether's large bitcoin holdings could pose risks given the cryptocurrency's highly volatile nature, according to research analysts. Tether has also been criticised for not publishing proper audits of its reserves, with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao calling it a "black box".
Major Corporations Embrace Cryptocurrency Payments, Including Tesla and Starbucks
The use of cryptocurrency has grown significantly in recent years, with many large companies adopting blockchain technology. While Bitcoin remains the most valuable and popular digital currency, other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Tether have also made an impact. This has resulted in more online platforms and physical stores accepting crypto payments, making transactions faster and more convenient for consumers.
Traders Sell Tether's USDT in Droves on Curve and Uniswap Stablecoin Pools
On Thursday, traders sold Tether's USDT in large quantities on Curve and UniSwap stablecoin exchange pools, causing the token to drop to as low as 99.76 cents and trade below its $1 peg for most of the day. The USDT balance surged to 62% in the Curve 3pool, while USDC and DAI comprised roughly 19-19% of all assets in the pool. The USDT-USDC trading pool on Uniswap also showed an imbalance, with the USDT balance standing at $105.4 million compared to just $6.5 million of USDC. These imbalances suggest that investors prefer to hold DAI or USDC instead of USDT, and similar situations have occurred in the past during market distress. The reason for the sales is currently unknown.
Lightning HSL Proposes Mainstream Stablecoin Backup Pool Solution to Prevent CRV Liquidation Risk
Lightning HSL has proposed a new solution to prevent the risk of Curve's native token CRV liquidation, which caused a significant crash in the value of CRV. The proposal involves introducing a mainstream stablecoin backup liquidation pool, with USDT as an example, where users can deposit USDT to acquire discounted mortgage products and repay debts.
Tether Holds More U.S. Treasuries Than Australia, UAE, and Spain
According to a tweet by Miles Deutscher, Tether now holds more U.S. treasuries than Australia, the UAE, and Spain. Additionally, Tether's operating profits for the quarter exceeded $1 billion. For context, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, had a similar operating profit of around $1.6 billion. This news is astonishing.
Scammer Steals $20 Million in USDT Stablecoin Using Zero Transfer Phishing Attack
A scammer used a zero transfer phishing attack to steal $20 million worth of USDT stablecoin on August 1, before being blacklisted by Tether. The scammer tricked the victim into sending 20 million real USDT to a phishing address, which resembled a known address. Zero transfer phishing scams have become increasingly common in the crypto ecosystem, resulting in over $40 million in losses to such attacks. Tether froze the victim's wallet immediately, prompting speculation about the identity of the scammer.
Data: Huang Licheng Has Transferred 1.5 Million USDT to the Founder of Curve and Obtained 3.75 Million CRV
According to PeckShieldAlert monitoring, "Brother Moji" Huang Licheng has transferred 1.5 million USDT to Curve founder Michael Egorov and received 3.75 million CRV from Michael Egorov.
Binance CEO CZ Zhao Plans to Offer Smaller Algorithmic Stablecoins as Alternative to Global Giants
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is exploring the possibility of introducing smaller algorithmic stablecoins to the market to provide investors with alternatives to the current dominant stablecoins. He expressed concerns about the lack of transparency and unforeseeable risks associated with large stablecoins such as Tether and Binance USD. As a result, Binance is working on algorithmic stablecoins and diversifying its stablecoin partnerships to spread out potential risks. Additionally, Binance plans to launch the First Digital USD in Hong Kong and explore new stablecoin options in Europe.
Tether Reports $850M Q2 Profit, Excess Reserves Reach $3.3B
Tether, the stablecoin issuer, has reported a net profit of $850 million in Q2, which is lower than the $1.5 billion reported in the previous quarter. The company's excess reserves now stand at around $3.3 billion, which includes the profits that Tether has decided to keep on top of the 100% reserves that it maintains to back all outstanding tokens. Tether's consolidated total assets were around $86.5 billion as of June 30, while its consolidated total liabilities were $83 billion, resulting in excess reserves of over $3 billion, a new all-time high. The company's USDT is the largest stablecoin in the market, with a supply of over 84 billion tokens.
Aave Stablecoin GHO Recovers After Depeg Possibly Linked to Curve Hack
Aave's stablecoin GHO briefly lost its $1 peg on July 31, dropping to $0.96 before regaining its peg after about two hours. The depeg was likely caused by a reentrancy attack on Curve Finance, which also resulted in the platform losing over $47 million.
Tether (USDT) Hits New All-Time High in Market Cap After Printing $1,500,000,000 in Net Profit: IntoTheBlock
Tether's market capitalization has reached a new all-time high, nearing $84 billion, thanks to billions of dollars in profits generated earlier this year. The stablecoin's circulating supply has increased by almost 30% year-to-date, and it printed $1.5 billion in net profits in Q1 of 2021. Meanwhile, competitors in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space are working on improvements to attract more users. USD Coin (USDC), the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, has been struggling since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March, with volumes and supply decreasing significantly.
Tether's Management Team Reportedly Profits from Simple and Low-Risk Model, Despite Potential Challenges in the Future
The creators of Tether, a stablecoin with a market value of $83 billion, have profited greatly from their creation. Despite the overall decline in cryptocurrency value, Tether has remained successful due to its low-risk profit-making model. Tether's top executives could become billionaires if the company is sold for an estimated $9 billion, but regulations and demands for money market returns may pose challenges in the future. Forbes reports that stablecoins are now yielding between 4-5%, and at least one US company plans to create a regulated stablecoin with money-market-like returns this year.
Bluechip's Stablecoin Ratings Raise Concerns Over Legitimacy
The legitimacy of Bluechip's stablecoin rankings has been called into question, particularly as BUSD, a stablecoin recently halted by the New York State Department of Financial Services, received the top ranking while USDT, the largest stablecoin by market cap, received the lowest. Bluechip's ratings are based on six qualities called SMIDGE: Stability, management, implementation decentralization, governance, and externals, and do not take regulatory crackdowns into account. Bluechip recommends that Tether disclose the names of its custodians, provide transparent redemption timelines, and lower the redemption ceiling to improve its ranking. Decentralized stablecoins like Liquity's LUSD and MakerDAO's DAI received high rankings due to their overcollateralization, which makes them mega-safe. Bluechip plans to add more tokens to its list in August.
Tether's USDT Marketcap Reaches Historic Highs, Positive Address Growth Continues
Tether has increased the circulating supply of its stablecoin USDT to historic highs, with marketcap growth surpassing its previous all-time high achieved in 2022. Despite USDT volumes not yet reaching their peak, positive address growth indicates growing demand. Tether's growing suite of products, such as Tether Gold, may be supporting USDT transactions and contributing to the stablecoin's marketcap growth. While USDT's marketcap growth is not necessarily a sign of an incoming bullish move, it does imply that Tether is preparing for more demand.
Ukraine Receives $225M in Crypto Donations for War Efforts Against Russia
According to a report by blockchain intelligence firm Crystal Blockchain, Ukraine has received $225 million in cryptocurrency donations since the start of Russia's invasion last year. These donations have been used to purchase crucial war supplies such as weapons, ammunition, and medical equipment. While the total amount of crypto donations has continued to increase, the monthly donation amounts have stagnated since late 2022 and never exceeded $10 million a month since May 2023. The majority of donations were in the form of USDT, followed by ether and bitcoin, and were primarily for humanitarian initiatives rather than military-oriented campaigns. On the other hand, Russia's military and paramilitary units have also been using crypto to receive material support, but these fundraising efforts have been more clandestine and have raised much smaller amounts.
