Bitcoin and Crypto Margin Trading Exchanges (UPDATED 2020)
Margin Trading Exchange List with 60+ Exchanges (2020
Crypto-Powered - The Most Promising Use-Cases of Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
A whirlwind tour of Defi, paying close attention to protocols that we’re leveraging atGenesis Block. https://reddit.com/link/hrrt21/video/cvjh5rrh12b51/player This is the third post ofCrypto-Powered— a new series that examines what it means forGenesis Blockto be a digital bank that’s powered by crypto, blockchain, and decentralized protocols. Last week we explored how building on legacy finance is a fool’s errand. The future of money belongs to those who build with crypto and blockchain at their core. We also started down the crypto rabbit hole, introducing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and DeFi (decentralized finance). That post is required reading if you hope to glean any value from the rest of this series. 97% of all activity on Ethereum in the last quarter has been DeFi-related. The total value sitting inside DeFi protocols is roughly $2B — double what it was a month ago. The explosive growth cannot be ignored. All signs suggest that Ethereum & DeFi are a Match Made in Heaven, and both on their way to finding strong product/market fit. So in this post, we’re doing a whirlwind tour of DeFi. We look at specific examples and use-cases already in the wild and seeing strong growth. And we pay close attention to protocols that Genesis Block is integrating with. Alright, let’s dive in.
Stablecoins
Stablecoins are exactly what they sound like: cryptocurrencies that are stable. They are not meant to be volatile (like Bitcoin). These assets attempt to peg their price to some external reference (eg. USD or Gold). A non-volatile crypto asset can be incredibly useful for things like merchant payments, cross-border transfers, or storing wealth — becoming your own bank but without the stress of constant price volatility. There are major governments and central banks that are experimenting with or soon launching their own stablecoins like China with their digital yuan and the US Federal Reserve with their digital dollar. There are also major corporations working in this area like JP Morgan with their JPM Coin, and of course Facebook with their Libra Project.
Stablecoin activity has grown 800% in the last year, with $290B of transaction volume (funds moving on-chain).
The most popular USD-pegged stablecoins include:
Tether ($10B): It’s especially popular in Asia. It’s backed by USD in a bank account. But given their lack of transparency and past controversies, they generally aren’t trusted as much in the West.
USDC($1B): This is the most reputable USD-backed stablecoin, at least in the West. It was created by Coinbase & Circle, both well-regarded crypto companies. They’ve been very open and transparent with their audits and bank records.
DAI ($189M): This is backed by other crypto assets — not USD in a bank account. This was arguably the first true DeFi protocol. The big benefit is that it’s more decentralized — it’s not controlled by any single organization. The downside is that the assets backing it can be volatile crypto assets (though it has mechanisms in place to mitigate that risk).
tablecoins are playing an increasingly important role in the world of DeFi. In a way, they serve as common pipes & bridges between the various protocols.
Three of the top five DeFi protocols relate to lending & borrowing. These popular lending protocols look very similar to traditional money markets. Users who want to earn interest/yield can deposit (lend) their funds into a pool of liquidity. Because it behaves similarly to traditional money markets, their funds are not locked, they can withdraw at any time. It’s highly liquid. Borrowers can tap into this pool of liquidity and take out loans. Interest rates depend on the utilization rate of the pool — how much of the deposits in the pool have already been borrowed. Supply & demand. Thus, interest rates are variable and borrowers can pay their loans back at any time.
So, who decides how much a borrower can take? What’s the process like? Are there credit checks? How is credit-worthiness determined?
These protocols are decentralized, borderless, permissionless. The people participating in these markets are from all over the world. There is no simple way to verify identity or check credit history. So none of that happens. Credit-worthiness is determined simply by how much crypto collateral the borrower puts into the protocol. For example, if a user wants to borrow $5k of USDC, then they’ll need to deposit $10k of BTC or ETH. The exact amount of collateral depends on the rules of the protocol — usually the more liquid the collateral asset, the more borrowing power the user can receive. The most prominent lending protocols include Compound, Aave, Maker, and Atomic Loans. Recently, Compound has seen meteoric growth with the introduction of their COMP token — a token used to incentivize and reward participants of the protocol. There’s almost $1B in outstanding debt in the Compound protocol. Mainframe is also working on an exciting protocol in this area and the latest iteration of their white paper should be coming out soon.
There is very little economic risk to these protocols because all loans are overcollateralized.
Buying, selling, and trading crypto assets is certainly one form of investing (though not for the faint of heart). But there are now DeFi protocols to facilitate making and managing traditional-style investments. Through DeFi, you can invest in Gold. You can invest in stocks like Amazon and Apple. You can short Tesla. You can access the S&P 500. This is done through crypto-based synthetics — which gives users exposure to assets without needing to hold or own the underlying asset. This is all possible with protocols like UMA, Synthetix, or Market protocol. Maybe your style of investing is more passive. With PoolTogether , you can participate in a no-loss lottery. Maybe you’re an advanced trader and want to trade options or futures. You can do that with DeFi protocols like Convexity, Futureswap, and dYdX. Maybe you live on the wild side and trade on margin or leverage, you can do that with protocols like Fulcrum, Nuo, and DDEX. Or maybe you’re a degenerate gambler and want to bet against Trump in the upcoming election, you can do that on Augur. And there are plenty of DeFi protocols to help with crypto investing. You could use Set Protocol if you need automated trading strategies. You could use Melonport if you’re an asset manager. You could use Balancer to automatically rebalance your portfolio. With as little as $1, people all over the world can have access to the same investment opportunities and tools that used to be reserved for only the wealthy, or those lucky enough to be born in the right country.
You can start to imagine how services like Etrade, TD Ameritrade, Schwab, and even Robinhood could be massively disrupted by a crypto-native company that builds with these types of protocols at their foundation.
As mentioned in our previous post, there are near-infinite applications one can build on Ethereum. As a result, sometimes the code doesn’t work as expected. Bugs get through, it breaks. We’re still early in our industry. The tools, frameworks, and best practices are all still being established. Things can go wrong. Sometimes the application just gets in a weird or bad state where funds can’t be recovered — like with what happened with Parity where $280M got frozen (yes, I lost some money in that). Sometimes, there are hackers who discover a vulnerability in the code and maliciously steal funds — like how dForce lost $25M a few months ago, or how The DAO lost $50M a few years ago. And sometimes the system works as designed, but the economic model behind it is flawed, so a clever user takes advantage of the system— like what recently happened with Balancer where they lost $500k. There are a lot of risks when interacting with smart contracts and decentralized applications — especially for ones that haven’t stood the test of time. This is why insurance is such an important development in DeFi.
Insurance will be an essential component in helping this technology reach the masses.
Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) were one of the first and most developed categories in DeFi. A DEX allows a user to easily exchange one crypto asset for another crypto asset — but without needing to sign up for an account, verify identity, etc. It’s all via decentralized protocols. Within the first 5 months of 2020, the top 7 DEX already achieved the 2019 trading volume. That was $2.5B. DeFi is fueling a lot of this growth. https://preview.redd.it/1dwvq4e022b51.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=97a3d756f60239cd147031eb95fc2a981db55943 There are many different flavors of DEX. Some of the early ones included 0x, IDEX, and EtherDelta — all of which had a traditional order book model where buyers are matched with sellers. Another flavor is the pooled liquidity approach where the price is determined algorithmically based on how much liquidity there is and how much the user wants to buy. This is known as an AMM (Automated Market Maker) — Uniswap and Bancor were early leaders here. Though lately, Balancer has seen incredible growth due mostly to their strong incentives for participation — similar to Compound. There are some DEXs that are more specialized — for example, Curve and mStable focus mostly only stablecoins. Because of the proliferation of these decentralized exchanges, there are now aggregators that combine and connect the liquidity of many sources. Those include Kyber, Totle, 1Inch, and Dex.ag.
These decentralized exchanges are becoming more and more connected to DeFi because they provide an opportunity for yield and earning interest.
As it relates to making payments, much of the world is still stuck on plastic cards. We’re grateful to partner with Visa and launch the Genesis Block debit card… but we still don’t believe that's the future of payments. We see that as an important bridge between the past (legacy finance) and the future (crypto). Our first post in this series shared more on why legacy finance is broken. We talked about the countless unnecessary middle-men on every card swipe (merchant, acquiring bank, processor, card network, issuing bank). We talked about the slow settlement times. The future of payments will be much better. Yes, it’ll be from a mobile phone and the user experience will be similar to ApplePay (NFC) or WePay (QR Code).
But more importantly, the underlying assets being moved/exchanged will all be crypto — digital, permissionless, and open source.
Someone making a payment at the grocery store check-out line will be able to open up Genesis Block, use contactless tech or scan a QR code, and instantly pay for their goods. All using crypto. Likely a stablecoin. Settlement will be instant. All the middlemen getting their pound of flesh will be disintermediated. The merchant can make more and the user can spend less. Blockchain FTW! Now let’s talk about a few projects working in this area. The xDai Burner Wallet experience was incredible at the ETHDenver event a few years ago, but that speed came at the expense of full decentralization (can it be censored or shut down?). Of course, Facebook’s Libra wants to become the new standard for global payments, but many are afraid to give Facebook that much control (newsflash: it isn’t very decentralized). Bitcoin is decentralized… but it’s slow and volatile. There are strong projects like Lightning Network (Zap example) that are still trying to make it happen. Projects like Connext and OmiseGo are trying to help bring payments to Ethereum. The Flexa project is leveraging the gift card rails, which is a nice hack to leverage existing pipes. And if ETH 2.0 is as fast as they say it will be, then the future of payments could just be a stablecoin like DAI (a token on Ethereum). In a way, being able to spend crypto on daily expenses is the holy grail of use-cases. It’s still early. It hasn’t yet been solved. But once we achieve this, then we can ultimately and finally say goodbye to the legacy banking & finance world. Employees can be paid in crypto. Employees can spend in crypto. It changes everything.
Legacy finance is hanging on by a thread, and it’s this use-case that they are still clinging to. Once solved, DeFi domination will be complete.
At Genesis Block, we’re excited to leverage these protocols and take this incredible technology to the world. Many of these protocols are already deeply integrated with our product. In fact, many are essential. The masses won’t know (or care about) what Tether, USDC, or DAI is. They think in dollars, euros, pounds and pesos. So while the user sees their local currency in the app, the underlying technology is all leveraging stablecoins. It’s all on “crypto rails.” https://preview.redd.it/jajzttr622b51.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=fcf55cea1216a1d2fcc3bf327858b009965f9bf8 When users deposit assets into their Genesis Block account, they expect to earn interest. They expect that money to grow. We leverage many of these low-risk lending/exchange DeFi protocols. We lend into decentralized money markets like Compound — where all loans are overcollateralized. Or we supply liquidity to AMM exchanges like Balancer. This allows us to earn interest and generate yield for our depositors. We’re the experts so our users don’t need to be. We haven’t yet integrated with any of the insurance or investment protocols — but we certainly plan on it. Our infrastructure is built with blockchain technology at the heart and our system is extensible — we’re ready to add assets and protocols when we feel they are ready, safe, secure, and stable. Many of these protocols are still in the experimental phase. It’s still early.
At Genesis Block we’re excited to continue to be at the frontlines of this incredible, innovative, technological revolution called DeFi.
--- None of these powerful DeFi protocols will be replacing Robinhood, SoFi, or Venmo anytime soon. They never will. They aren’t meant to! We’ve discussed this before, these are low-level protocols that need killer applications, like Genesis Block. So now that we’ve gone a little deeper down the rabbit hole and we’ve done this whirlwind tour of DeFi, the natural next question is: why?
Why does any of it matter?
Most of these financial services that DeFi offers already exist in the real world. So why does it need to be on a blockchain? Why does it need to be decentralized? What new value is unlocked? Next post, we answer these important questions. To look at more projects in DeFi, check outDeFi Prime,DeFi Pulse, orConsensys. ------ Other Ways to Consume Today's Episode:
BASIC is the next-generation crypto finance platform that allows lenders and borrowers from all over the world to better manage their crypto assets with enhanced capital efficiency.Today’s post will cover the Risk Management practices, that are implemented within the platform in order to establish efficient and stable ecosystem and in order to secure all the occuring financial transactions. Let us see the methodologies and tools, that are exploited by BASIC to address all the associated risks, that may occur in any given financial transaction.
BASIC’s Risk Management Practices
BASIC is actively exercising preemptive efforts in order to guarantee efficient and stable financial transactions on its platform, addressing all the associated risks, that may emerge in any given financial transaction. BASIC is applying risk management tools, that assist to alleviate all the associated risks, that can be found within this platform.
Risk classifications
▶ Volatility risk BASIC has established a risk management system to recognize and address the high volatility of the digital assets. In the case of mortgage loans, there is always a requirement for a liquidation procedure under certain circumstances. Namely, if the market value of the collateral falls below a certain limit, you may be requested to provide additional collateral. If the requested amount of additional collateral is not stored within a specified period, the liquidation procedure will kick in and the required amount of collateral will be liquidated to secure the loan. The BASIC platform performs real-time volatility management practices. There is a tracking process of the price indexes of 6 different crypto exchanges, such as Coinbase, Bitfinex, Binance, Huobi, Bitstamp, and Kraken, where the prices of the crypto assets with an engineered volatility, placed as a collateral or borrowed as a loan in the BASIC’s platform, are tracked and based on them the LTV( Loan-to-Value) ratio is calculated. The abovementioned LTV management, hence risk management is performed by the Smart Risk Manager on an automatic basis. The volatility risk manager is currently programmed to warn and further take some certain actions at the following events and LTV rates:
At 65% LTV, the borrower receives warning notifications (Early Warning)
At 75% LTV, the borrower is requested to store additional collateral to diminish LTV to 65% (Margin Call)
At 85% LTV, the system will be forced to initiate a partial liquidation process to automatically lower the LTV to 75% (Margin Liquidation)
The BASIC platform has a liquidity engine system. It is BitGo’s internal clearing system, which allows you to stream placed orders in real-time, and liquidate large amounts of assets at a fixed price, without the presence of slippage. ▶ Default Risk This risk could occur independently from the LTV, and two scenarios are probable depending on the nature of the loan (Secured and Unsecured).
Secured Loan
The default borrowing period for Basic is set to 3 days after maturity, and if there is an overdue balance outstanding on the day of liquidation, the amount of outstanding balance with a liquidation penalty added will be deducted from the collateral assets.
Unsecured Loan
Once the default occurs, 100% of the borrower’s total CREDIT (credit token) is going to be exterminated. At the same time, assets corresponding to the loan amount are going to be taken out from the Basic Insurance Fund and forced liquidation will kick in to protect the depositors. ▶ Overdue Risk If the loan interest is not paid and remains in overdue status for a prolonged period of time, the following measures will be taken.
Secured Loan
The grace period for overdue interest is set to 3 days after maturity, and if there is an overdue balance outstanding after 3 days, the amount of outstanding balance with a liquidation discount rate (5%) added shall be deducted from the collateral assets.
Unsecured Loan
The grace period for overdue interest is set to 3 days after maturity, and if there is an overdue balance outstanding after 3 days, the amount of outstanding balance shall be withdrawn from the Basic Insurance Fund and 100% of the borrower’s total CREDIT is programmed to be burned. ▶ Counterparty Risk Counterparty risk, which is prevalent in the trading and investment areas, is the likelihood or probability, that one of the two involved entities in a transaction might default on its contractual obligation. There are two primary sources of the counterparty risk in the process of collateral liquidation. The first one arises when the counterparty cannot make the required payments according to their obligations. The second one occurs, when the counterparty breaks the terms of the contract, hence defaulting on his contractual obligation. The relationship in the financial market is built upon trust. Hence, the counterparty risk or default risk can result in an overall deterioration of the credit market and further lead to a crisis. When there is a transaction being occurred within a platform of the BASIC, BitGo operates as a third party, who secures the process of escrowing the assets of the transacting participants. This risk management practice enables transacting parties to proactively identify and control the counterparty risk at the same level as financial firms. ▶ Slippage and Market Risks In case of carrying out transactions on multiple digital asset exchanges, you may face a huge issue of inefficient digital asset distribution, which can adversely affect your balance sheet. This situation can further expose you to the Slippage and Market Risk, as the number of assets that need to be liquidated increases. On the contrary, BASIC platform enables easy and quickly offline trading with transacting parties in BitGo, through the virtual journal swaps. This practice, in turn, eliminates the slippage and market risks. ▶ Compliance Violation Compliance violations can be applied to the withdrawal of assets at the time of the transaction. Currently, the majority of digital asset platform companies randomly distribute assets to multiple digital asset exchanges for trading purposes. In fact, this kind of approach affects the balance sheet and can lead to regulatory compliance violations. The BASIC platform is capable of reducing market and slipper risks, whilst keeping business efficiency at the highest level, by trading with trading partners within the BitGo’s system. This, in turn, will enable you to maintain stable transactions in a quite liquid market. ▶ Legal and Regulatory Compliance Risk Basic implements strict and thorough anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism-financing preventive measures at the level of traditional financial institutions in accordance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and guidelines. This practice allows to thoroughly verify the identity of the client and to establish anti-money laundering preventive measures, which are both de facto essential factors to ensure the safety and legitimacy of the digital assets handling. To mitigate and identify in advance the risks associated with the compliance or regulation, BASIC’s legal team is staying up-to-date with the legal and regulatory compliances over the crypto assets.
Keep Updated with BASIC Platform!
Thank you for reading. If you would like to keep updated with BASIC’s activities, please follow our social media channels below.
BASIC is the next-generation crypto finance platform that allows lenders and borrowers from all over the world to better manage their crypto assets with enhanced capital efficiency.Today’s post will cover the Risk Management practices, that are implemented within the platform in order to establish efficient and stable ecosystem and in order to secure all the occuring financial transactions. Let us see the methodologies and tools, that are exploited by BASIC to address all the associated risks, that may occur in any given financial transaction.
BASIC’s Risk Management Practices
BASIC is actively exercising preemptive efforts in order to guarantee efficient and stable financial transactions on its platform, addressing all the associated risks, that may emerge in any given financial transaction. BASIC is applying risk management tools, that assist to alleviate all the associated risks, that can be found within this platform.
Risk classifications
▶ Volatility risk BASIC has established a risk management system to recognize and address the high volatility of the digital assets. In the case of mortgage loans, there is always a requirement for a liquidation procedure under certain circumstances. Namely, if the market value of the collateral falls below a certain limit, you may be requested to provide additional collateral. If the requested amount of additional collateral is not stored within a specified period, the liquidation procedure will kick in and the required amount of collateral will be liquidated to secure the loan. The BASIC platform performs real-time volatility management practices. There is a tracking process of the price indexes of 6 different crypto exchanges, such as Coinbase, Bitfinex, Binance, Huobi, Bitstamp, and Kraken, where the prices of the crypto assets with an engineered volatility, placed as a collateral or borrowed as a loan in the BASIC’s platform, are tracked and based on them the LTV( Loan-to-Value) ratio is calculated. The abovementioned LTV management, hence risk management is performed by the Smart Risk Manager on an automatic basis. The volatility risk manager is currently programmed to warn and further take some certain actions at the following events and LTV rates:
At 65% LTV, the borrower receives warning notifications (Early Warning)
At 75% LTV, the borrower is requested to store additional collateral to diminish LTV to 65% (Margin Call)
At 85% LTV, the system will be forced to initiate a partial liquidation process to automatically lower the LTV to 75% (Margin Liquidation)
The BASIC platform has a liquidity engine system. It is BitGo’s internal clearing system, which allows you to stream placed orders in real-time, and liquidate large amounts of assets at a fixed price, without the presence of slippage. ▶ Default Risk This risk could occur independently from the LTV, and two scenarios are probable depending on the nature of the loan (Secured and Unsecured).
Secured Loan
The default borrowing period for Basic is set to 3 days after maturity, and if there is an overdue balance outstanding on the day of liquidation, the amount of outstanding balance with a liquidation penalty added will be deducted from the collateral assets.
Unsecured Loan
Once the default occurs, 100% of the borrower’s total CREDIT (credit token) is going to be exterminated. At the same time, assets corresponding to the loan amount are going to be taken out from the Basic Insurance Fund and forced liquidation will kick in to protect the depositors. ▶ Overdue Risk If the loan interest is not paid and remains in overdue status for a prolonged period of time, the following measures will be taken.
Secured Loan
The grace period for overdue interest is set to 3 days after maturity, and if there is an overdue balance outstanding after 3 days, the amount of outstanding balance with a liquidation discount rate (5%) added shall be deducted from the collateral assets.
Unsecured Loan
The grace period for overdue interest is set to 3 days after maturity, and if there is an overdue balance outstanding after 3 days, the amount of outstanding balance shall be withdrawn from the Basic Insurance Fund and 100% of the borrower’s total CREDIT is programmed to be burned. ▶ Counterparty Risk Counterparty risk, which is prevalent in the trading and investment areas, is the likelihood or probability, that one of the two involved entities in a transaction might default on its contractual obligation. There are two primary sources of the counterparty risk in the process of collateral liquidation. The first one arises when the counterparty cannot make the required payments according to their obligations. The second one occurs, when the counterparty breaks the terms of the contract, hence defaulting on his contractual obligation. The relationship in the financial market is built upon trust. Hence, the counterparty risk or default risk can result in an overall deterioration of the credit market and further lead to a crisis. When there is a transaction being occurred within a platform of the BASIC, BitGo operates as a third party, who secures the process of escrowing the assets of the transacting participants. This risk management practice enables transacting parties to proactively identify and control the counterparty risk at the same level as financial firms. ▶ Slippage and Market Risks In case of carrying out transactions on multiple digital asset exchanges, you may face a huge issue of inefficient digital asset distribution, which can adversely affect your balance sheet. This situation can further expose you to the Slippage and Market Risk, as the number of assets that need to be liquidated increases. On the contrary, BASIC platform enables easy and quickly offline trading with transacting parties in BitGo, through the virtual journal swaps. This practice, in turn, eliminates the slippage and market risks. ▶ Compliance Violation Compliance violations can be applied to the withdrawal of assets at the time of the transaction. Currently, the majority of digital asset platform companies randomly distribute assets to multiple digital asset exchanges for trading purposes. In fact, this kind of approach affects the balance sheet and can lead to regulatory compliance violations. The BASIC platform is capable of reducing market and slipper risks, whilst keeping business efficiency at the highest level, by trading with trading partners within the BitGo’s system. This, in turn, will enable you to maintain stable transactions in a quite liquid market. ▶ Legal and Regulatory Compliance Risk Basic implements strict and thorough anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism-financing preventive measures at the level of traditional financial institutions in accordance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and guidelines. This practice allows to thoroughly verify the identity of the client and to establish anti-money laundering preventive measures, which are both de facto essential factors to ensure the safety and legitimacy of the digital assets handling. To mitigate and identify in advance the risks associated with the compliance or regulation, BASIC’s legal team is staying up-to-date with the legal and regulatory compliances over the crypto assets.
Keep Updated with BASIC Platform!
Thank you for reading. If you would like to keep updated with BASIC’s activities, please follow our social media channels below.
Theory Every trade execution by law of Central Limit Order Book logic has both a "maker" and a "taker" side from orders created. Every "maker" order has an event pushed to the "OrderBook" websocket stream. The API documentation in all cases of exchanges used indicates real-time pushing of updated data (we did not use streams where there was indication of 1000ms or so delays). So the methodology used throughout is to programmatically watch: - The order book best bid/offer - The raw trade feed Then look for trades which occur inbetween the bid/ask. This would indicate a trade took place which no one else was able to execute because the trade never appeared on the order book for anyone to be able to see, to then take. It is known that some exchanges are just not good at reporting the orderbook data and trade data in synch, or they do not provide detailed enough information of event timestamp/id to be able to resolve suspicious data. The scripts here compute both Fake Trades Count vs Legit Trades Count, as well as Fake Volume vs. Legit Volume. Feel free to request an exchange you use to be analysed using our methodology and we'll be happy to post it along with results.
Some results (also from the GitHub repository):
Exchange
Volume executed between the spread (_o_) ?
Notes
Binance
30%
Approx 30% of volume executes between the spread
Coinbase
2-3%
Approx 2-3% of volume executes between the spread
Bitstamp
<1%
Tested over a 12h period
FTX
<1%
within margin of error for latency issues
Kraken
0%
PERFECT - Tested and no fake volume identified
Bitfinex
-
Exchange has hidden orders so test is non applicable
True & honest chart analysis? Looking to trade/long ETH
Hi all, After seeing crypto move in cycles and me just pointlessly HODLing, I really want to try out trading/longing/shorting. I'm sick of looking at this market manipulation and not profiting off it. Are there websites/youtube channels/anything else with true and honest chart analysis? And not people that start drawing lines on the chart at any given moment and then draw some speculative conclusion. I know no one can predict the market, but there's enough people profiting off these cycles. It is possible. Yesterday I saw btc drop to 7.7k and eth to $150, I was about to long, but I didn't. I'm not experienced in trading and I shouldn't be fomo'ing/trading emotionally. But friends of me keep telling me I should long. I'm going to margin trade on Bitfinex and I'm looking trade/long ETH/USD. Does anyone have advice for me? Or knows where I can find the right information? I'm dedicated and I'm done with being poor.
Chin up boys and girls – the DApps (Decentralized Apps) are finally coming. Utility, not speculation/manipulation/shilling etc., is what, in the end, will give/justify the value of blockchains.
Of the top 100 tokens, 91 of them are on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20). The most valuable non-Ethereum tokens by market cap are USDT (4) and GAS (25). Eventually, ICX (6), VeChain (3) and EOS (1) and several others will be migrating to their own blockchains. Still, this leaves Ethereum with an overwhelming market dominance for tokens (aka DApps) and Ethereum has been clearly recognized as the blockchain to launch ICOs/DApps.
For the rest of March + Q2 (April - June) we are going see the biggest implementation of DApps on the Ethereum mainnet to date. Below I’ve laid out, in alphabetical order and in varying detail, what’s happening between now and the end of Q2 of this year. (I’ve also added some info, where especially relevant, of big stuff coming after Q2). I hope any biases I may have do not come through too much in the writing.
To hammer home on utility once more: One year ago today, the daily transaction count was at 57,000. Yesterday, the network confirmed over 752,000 transactions (a 13x increase) (And remember, ATH in January was 1.349 million txns!) [Source]
AirSwap is a decentralized exchange for trading Ethereum based tokens. It allows its users to trade tokens in a peer-to-peer fashion across the Ethereum blockchain. The token trader is currently live, in a limited capacity, trading AST and (W)ETH.
More token pairs will be added before the end of the Q1, as part of the upcoming release, Token Marketplace. A mobile app is also in development and will be entering beta soon.
Aragon is a project that aims to disintermediate the creation and maintenance of decentralized organizational structures by using blockchain technology. "We provide the tools for anyone to become an entrepreneur and run their own organization, to take control of their own lives." Originally slated for a February release, Aragon Core v0.5 (which is a fully functioning version of the DApp on mainnet) should be released any day now.
Augur is a fully-decentralized, open-source prediction market platform built on the Ethereum blockchain for any and all predictive markets. Augur Beta is currently live on Kovan testnet and launch is “months away.”
In order to mitigate bugs and problems, the first market on mainnet will be something along the lines of 'Will there be a critical vulnerability discovered in Augur by a certain date?” Given Augur’s development history, this could be launching a little after Q2, but the progress looks promising.
UPDATE (3/7/18): Contract audits are complete and the full audit report of augur-core will be released next week. "Some work still being down on UI, Augur Node, and additional screens." Next step is the bug bounty (first prediction market on Augur).
UPDATE (3/12/18): Core security audit report is released following a four-month long audit by Zeppelin. Augur's contracts are ready to ship and "over the coming weeks we plan to release more details around a bug bounty program and market."
BlockCAT lets anyone create, manage, and deploy smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain with just a few clicks. No programming required. BlockCAT will be releasing their first visual smart contract on the mainnet on March 14 (the full details of exactly what this contract does, will also be released when it goes live.)
UPDATE (3/14/18): BlockCAT's first visual smart contract, Tabby Pay, has been released on mainnet. Tabby Pay is a smart contract that’s built to prevent user error - if you send Ether to the wrong wallet, you can cancel the payment and your Ether will be returned.
Digix is a DAO (Distributed Autonomous Organization) and is composed of two main parts: DGD and DGX, both of which are ERC-20 tokens.
DGD is a governance token that allows holders to vote on proposals that are submitted for the growth of the Digix ecosystem and offers rewards to holders on the basis of their successful contribution to the Digix Ecosystem.
DGX is a gold-backed token and is slated for a public market release by end of Q1 2018. DGX is backed by physical gold on a basis of 1 token to 1 gram of gold. "DGX represents value on the blockchain that can be retained over time with relatively little volatility; giving it greater utility than Ether for a wide range of use-cases. Retail, Rentals, Salaries, Commerce, Lending, Wealth Management."
UPDATE (3/13/18): DGX will be launching on mainnet this week and Digix will be partnering with Kyber Network to be the first decentralized exchange to offer their asset tokens (like DGX) against ETH at launch.
UPDATE (3/23/18): The first couple thousand DGX have been created on mainnet and the marketplace opens on April 8. Prior to that, the KYC Whitelist will open on March 26
Ethorse is a DApp for betting on the price of Cryptocurrencies and winning ETH from everyone who bets against you. Users bet with ETH on one of the listed coins or tokens to have the highest price gain in a fixed period. Currently live on the Kovan testnet, with mainnet launch before end of Q2.
UPDATE (3/22/18): Ethorse has launched a bug bounty to stress test the security of its smart contracts and they are estimating the DApp to go live on mainnet no later than mid-April
FunFair is a decentralised gaming technology platform which uses the Ethereum blockchain, smart contracts and their own Fate (State) Channels to deliver casino solutions with games that are “fun, fast and fair.” FunFair has been on testnet for many months now and the Showcase has been live for even longer. Currently on-boarding casino operators, FunFair is on schedule to launch with its first operator in early Q2.
FundRequest is a decentralized marketplace for open source collaboration. It introduces an easy and secure way to reward bugfixes and feature builds on any project. The FundRequest platform will be going live on mainnet in Q1-Q2 and will allow users to fund and crowdfund open source issues on GitHub using the FND token. Developers can claim the FND token after they’ve successfully resolved the GitHub issue. Q2 will also bring the ability to use any ERC-20 token to fund Open Source Issues on GitHub.
Giveth is an Open-Source Platform for Building Decentralized Altruistic Communities. The first working prototype of their “Minimum Loveable Product,” the Giveth Donation Application, is live on testnet and they “expect to fully open the platform for the public in March 2018.”
Golem has branded itself as “the worldwide supercomputer.” Golem Brass beta will be releasing on the mainnet before end of Q2, allowing users to sell their computing power and earn real GNT for the first time.
iExec is a decentralized cloud computing platform that is blockchain-based. Using a decentralized cloud that connects users to one another it aims to tackle the current limitations of centralized cloud computing that are holding business and innovation back.
Launching in Q2, iExec 2.0 — Cloud Marketplace will include the full marketplace platform network, with the PoCo algorithm (Proof-of-Contribution) enabling the first decentralized cloud.
Kyber network is an on-chain protocol which allows instant exchange and conversion of digital assets and cryptocurrencies with high liquidity. Launched on mainnet in February and was at first only available to people on the ICO whitelist but has since slowly started allowing new user on the platform. Currently only has a few tokens listed but that list will continue to grow and will hopefully bring along with it a surge in daily users/volume.
MakerDao is a decentralized stable coin project that is currently live on mainnet. It is composed of two main parts: MKR and dai (both are ERC-20 tokens).
MKR is a governance token: "MKR holders are the highest authority in the Maker system - they govern the system and benefit financially when they govern it well, but they also have to foot the bill if things are mismanaged - as a group they need strong social cooperation and a vigilant attitude towards governance."
Dai is a decentralized stable coin that is price stabilized against the value of the U.S. Dollar. Dai is used in conjunction with their Oasisdex decentralized exchange, and their CDP (collaterized debt position) margin trading platform to offer "a full solution for global decentralized finance where everyone gets to benefit from the massive economies of scale that become available when global finance is done right."
Currently, dai is only collateralized by Ether but multi-collateral dai will be released in Q2. This means dai will begin to be backed by gold (through DGX) and other ERC-20 tokens. Maker is also looking into collateralizing more traditional investments, like real estate, in the future.
This project can take a little time to understand, so here's a thorough ELIM5 walkthrough.
The Melon protocol is a portal to digital asset management on the blockchain. The frontend operates on top of IPFS, while the backend leverages off a set of Ethereum smart contracts. Melonport just launched on mainnet and they currently have a bug bounty with 500 MLN in it. In a few weeks, the current version will be shut down for fixes and a new version will roll out. Melonport: "Disrupting the US$84.9 trillion asset management industry, one block at a time."
OmiseGo is the Plasma decentralized exchange, hosting an open-source digital wallet platform created by parent company, Omise, connecting mainstream payments, cross-border remittances, and much more. They just had their White Label Wallet SDK public release.
In Q2, OmiseGO will deliver the OmiseGO network and lay the foundations in preparation for Plasma. In Q2 we will see the OmiseGO Proof of Stake public blockchain release, meaning staking will be possible.
(OMG’s cash in/out interface and the Plasma mainnet launch are scheduled for the tail end of 2018/early 2019. Learn more about Plasma from the most cheerful person I know, Karl Floersch, here
Request is a decentralized network that allows anyone to request a payment for which the recipient can pay in a secure way. The first iteration of Request working with Ethereum on mainnet is still on track to launch before March 31. The code for mainnet is currently being audited and when the audits are done, a bug bounty program will follow.
UPDATE (3/16/18): Request is currently undergoing its second smart contract audit, which will be followed by a bug bounty program. Request is still on track to be released on mainnet on/before March 31, 2018.
A cryptoeconomic powered adult entertainment ecosystem built on the Ethereum network. Basically, a decentralized cam site (plus a lot more!) Launching on mainnet in Q2 is SpankChain Camsite v1 which will allow for ETH + ERC20 payments and public and private shows all while implementing a low 5% fee for performers (According to their whitepaper, most adult camsites take between a 30-50% cut of performer earnings on top of payment processing fees).
UPDATE (3/23/18): According to community manager Chase Cole, they are aiming to launch the camsite on April 2.
UPDATE (3/27/18): It's official - beginning April 2, the cam site beta program will give token holders and community members access to the initial closed beta shows.
Streamr tokenises streaming data to enable a new way for machines and people to trade it on a decentralised p2p network. The data marketplace will be coming to mainnet by March 31.
0x is a protocol that facilitates trustless peer-to-peer exchange of ERC20 tokens. 0x protocol is free to use and allows anyone to create a decentralized exchange; we call these relayers. This isn’t a DApp, but allows for the creation of DApps.
A list of some of the DEXs, in varying states of development, that will be utilizing 0x:
Also, an informative article about some of the differences between the various decentralized exchange protocols here. Some general Ethereum news to be excited about:
Vitalik recently hinted, in a since deleted tweet, that the sharding testnet will be coming online in the near future (I think Q2 isn’t too early a guess).
What is sharding? Sharding is where the entire state of the network is split into a bunch of partitions called shards that contain their own independent piece of state and transaction history. In this system, certain nodes would process transactions only for certain shards, allowing the throughput of transactions processed in total across all shards to be much higher than having a single shard do all the work as the mainchain does now. [Source]
What is Casper? Casper FFG aka Vitalik’s Casper is a hybrid POW/POS consensus mechanism. This is the version of Casper that is going to be implemented first. In a Proof of Stake system, validators stake a portion of their Ethers and start validating blocks. Meaning, when they discover a block which they think can be added to the chain, they will validate it by placing a bet on it. [Source]
(To stay up-to-date on Ethereum research development, check out Ethresear.ch)
The Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) is March 8-10 in Paris. Talks will focus around “scalability, anonymity, development tools, governance compliance” among other topics.
Speakers include representatives from the Ethereum Foundation, Ledger, Metamask, Shapeshift, Oraclize, Uport, Web3Foundation, Melonport, ConsenSys, JP Morgan, Coinbase – Toshi, Parity, SpankChain, FunFair, Aragon, AirSwap, EEA, IExec, Cosmos, OmiseGO, Circle, Gnosis, among others.
UPDATE: EthCC was a resounding success! If you missed it or want to re-watch any of the talks, check out this handy thread of videos, painstakingly culled and timestamped by u/alsomahler.
The Ethereum Developer Conference (EDCON) is May 3-5 in Toronto. This will be the biggest ETH dev conference since DEVCON 3 last November. The agenda is still being worked out, but speakers include representatives from the Ethereum Foundation, Polkadot, Parity, Plasma, OmiseGO, Cosmos, Tendermint, Giveth, Maker, Gnosis, and many others.
5.6 billion requests per day for Infura.io (Decentralized web3 infrastructure)
280,000 downloads of TruffleSuit (ETH development framework) [Source]
ConsenSys has grown to over 600 employees in six major offices located around the world. I personally think ConsenSys is important (and awesome) because they are huge Ethereum evangelists and provide (in)valuable resources to help bring DApps come to life!
From their website: “The ConsenSys “hub” coordinates, incubates, accelerates and spawns “spoke” ventures through development, resource sharing, acquisitions, investments and the formation of joint ventures. These spokes benefit from foundational components built by ConsenSys that enable new services and business models to be built on the blockchain.”
Several of the projects I listed above are ConSensys formations including AirSwap and MetaMask.
Thanks for reading this far! Hopefully it wasn’t too exhausting of a read.
I am certain I have forgotten some DApps, so please feel free to comment/PM any and all suggestions/corrections to make this list more informative/inclusive/accurate and I will update it. TL;DR
So for context I was recently reading this post and read this responseand it gave me this wonderful idea to achieve the flippening almost instantly and make ETH moon 10x in a matter of months (or less).
Let me outline my method as follows; Warning though you're going to need a lot of friends to coordinate this and you're gonna need a lot of balls + some decent risk appetite + the need to stomach a big loss if I'm wrong:
Step 1: Buy some ETH
Step 2: Goto the MakerDAO and learn to use it to generate DAI from ETH.
Step 3: Serve up that ETH as collateral to issue DAI stablecoins.
1DAI = 1USD
$1500 of ETH can be used to generate up to 500 Dai ($500)
You are effectively borrowing $500 but locking up $1500 in a contract to do so; if the USD value of ETH no longer greater than 1.5x the USD value of DAI issued then part of the ETH you've locked up will automatically be sold off until the balance = 1.5x the value of DAI borrowed.
To clarify if you locked 1 ETH at $1000/ETH into a maker DAO contract to generate and borrow 666 DAI ($666) and the price of ETH fell to $900 then you would automatically lose 0.0733 ETH = ((1000 / 1.5) - (900 / 1.5) / 900)
You could totally wuss out though and lock 1 ETH at $1000/ETH into the maker DAO contract to generate only 250 DAI ($250) and then you would only start losing your ETH if it's price falls to $833/ETH (1200 / 1.5).
Step 4: Use that newly minted Dai to buy more ETH.
Step 5 (optional if you have guts - no risk, no reward! :)): Use that ETH bought with Dai to open the biggest most leveraged margin long you can!!! I'm talking 100x ETH long on Bitmex if possible; you're buying as much ETH as your exchange will let you.
Step 6: Persuade as many people as you can to do the exact same thing you just did in steps 1 to 5!
Lets say you're now 100x long on ETH via Bitmex, using the full 666 DAI purchased with $1000 worth of ETH: Thats a $66,000 ETH purchase fueled by just $1000. Talk about moving the market!
Get 1000 people to do the same thing at the same time; $66 million buy order on ETH! Using the 14-02-2018 24h daily trading volume of $2665 milion that could trigger a 2.5% a sudden increase in daily trading volume!
Best of all because you're using fully transparent credit! That DAI stablecoin is fully publicly auditable and transparent unlike that pesky tether token! No more guilt about illegal market manipulation or lack of audits now baby; we're fully legal and compliant with all the regulations! After all that DAI's still legal right and as soon as the price of ETH goes up (fueled by arbitrage and fomo catalysed by you and your buddies) you can reclaim the principle + fees to recover your collateral, burn the DAI, close your longs and lose all personal risk knowing you just catalyzed a mass FOMO event with eerie resonances akin to the one Bitcoin had 3 months ago...
Remember you can do it!!! Lets just come together people!
Congratulations!!! You're just like the guys at Bitfinex but you didn't need to run an exchange, be a whale or print your own token to do this; like true millenials all the hard work was done; even this stupid article telling you what to do! Now just get a few (thousand) mates together and get started the modern day LAN party of FOMO fueler lambo whale/minnow catalytic converter trading party to Konami code your way to instant wealth and fuel that never ending bitchin bubble that's crypto!!! LETS GET RICH PEOPLE
Disclaimer: This post is strictly parody. The suggested method will probably fail spectacularly and leave you with substantial debts, financial losses and misery. Any references to Bitfinex MakerDAO or any other company referenced in this article including all other content are purely for the purposes of parody; no factual claims have been made, no opinions, assertions or statements made in this article should be taken seriously or as meaningful trading/investing advice. I am not a qualified financial analyst or consultant; you make your own trading and investing decisions at your own risk and take full responsibility. Any strategy outlined in this article should be taken as foolhardy and risky. Do your own research. I am long Ethereum (ETH), Particl (PART), OmiseGo (OMG), Augur (REP), Iconomi (ICN), WeTrust (TRST) and Factom (FCT).
EDIT: I realize this is long, but I feel it's important to have this info out there. Maybe save it for later when you see this narrative being pushed around so you can come back and get the other side. EDIT 2: TL:DR - Most negative analysis on this sub lately of Tether are likely from a single biased source that stretches a lot to make his points, and there is simply not enough Tether in the market nor is it concentrated enough to create a catastrophic problem or significant inflation for any USDT currency pair. Like many of you, I have heard the stories and posts about the fraudulent tether, I trade in this space on many exchanges and the growing concern is worrying, so I did my due diligence, and I would like to share it with the community. First and most importantly IMO, all this controversy stems from just one account/person. A person on twitter going by the handle @Bitfinexed - https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed Here you can see this person's writings - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest Spoofy, Tethers and institutional investors are what they contend to be the lies and fraud, AND that this entire rally in 2017 is based on fraudulent Tethers and spoofing, and that this will implode the markets. I feel this is also important… Turns out this person sold at $1000, maybe the real reason he is on this mission??… https://twitter.com/whalepool/status/896460700461277185 Now for some troubling info, the majority of this narrative (FUD??) here on Reddit in the last month come from just three accounts. https://www.reddit.com/useAtlasRand1/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/usecetusfund/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/useAnythingForSuccess As you can see these accounts entire mission is to post constantly about this. They all show up on the other’s post to comment regularly. Btw, some people on the pro-finex side think this is a smear campaign from other exchanges. I don’t believe this to be the case. This person(s) only talk about TetheFinex, yet Tether is used and traded by the $millions daily on 3 of the top 5 exchanges, Finex, Bittrex, Polo, yet never a word about those other exchanges. (Check the USDT volume on other exchanges) https://coinmarketcap.com/assets/tethe#markets Therefore, if it is an exchange, it isn’t Trex/Polo because this would affect them as well. If it was an exchange other than Trex/Polo they would have plenty of fire power against 3 of the top 5 exchanges with Tether fraud. This leads me to believe it is most likely a sad person(s) with an ax to grind. They might have lost their $ on Finex to what they believe are spoofers/fraud and or they were part of the finex hack and sold there BFX too early. Btw I see contention that Bitfinex did NOT pay back the $ from the hack. They did, but some people are mad because they sold BFX early and didn’t recoup full $ amount from haircuts, but that was their decision. ~ POINTS OF CONTENTION SPOOFING This is what set my alarm bells off about these articles I read from Bitfinexed. Specifically spoofing… https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 and this nugget…“And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” from this article… https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-fraudulent-tethers-being-used-for-margin-lending-on-bitfinex-5de9dd80f330 Claiming spoofing shows this person has limited markets/trading knowledge. Clearly they haven’t watched an order book of any exchange in crypto, equities, or Forex. This is called scalping or scare walls. Again this is done in every market around the globe. Here is a professional FOREX trader talking about scalping, how it works, who/why they do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMIPmgRb_M&list=WL&index=94 TL;DW - they do this to get the price where they want it because they know people are watching the order book (the video is quite enlightening), and the key point that keeps this from being an illegal activity (on regulated exchanges) is THAT THEY DO MAKE TRADES FOR THOSE SIZES eventually. This doesn’t always work and they get stuck in these positions. Risk/reward. The ironic part about this spoofing idea is Finex is one of the few, if not only exchanges, that offer hidden orders. So people trying to scalp always have to worry if there is a monster hidden order lurking. Go to the UPDATE: AUGUST 7TH of this story and watch the video he claims proves spoofing and Phil Potter admitting it in the voice over. https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 I see nothing wrong with what Phil says and no proof of anything in the video. Again this is true on every exchange trading anything of volume in the world. People with large amounts of money move markets, oh the horror. I “technically” do this when I place an order and pull it for whatever reason (scared, mistake, etc.) just not in large sums, but I would if I had large sums. “And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” The crash they are referring to is from the early June ATH to the mid-July correction. A 45-day crash? Well, I am one of those people that went margin long. And many many others who read charts, resistance, support, retracement info. Again, this smacks of someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. REASON FOR PRICE RISE/BTC GOES UP WHEN TETHERS ARE CREATED This is absurd. This completely negates everything else, the Japanese currency ruling and them entering the market, Koreans coming into the market in a huge way (they now have the largest exchange by far with close to a Billion traded DAILY, oh and they don’t use Tether at all), the successful hard fork, or the more (positive!) interest from the media and people than ever before in BTC history. Instead, we are supposed to think that $395 million dollars of tethers are the reason for this rise in a $160+ Billion market cap.  C’mon people! Look at that volume for the last 30 days. https://imgur.com/a/vKJ5g Also, the overwhelming majority of trade does not exist in Tether but KRW, CNY, USD, JPY. Tethers are usually created when extra liquidity is needed, be it a crash or a spike. Because more people are trading. They try to prove Tether boosts the market with this picture in their article. https://imgur.com/a/274SE The problem is 2 of the last 3 tether dumps coincide with a downturn. In fact, there is nothing in this graph that proves this theory. Also, the last tether dump/price rise coincides perfectly with the news of the majority of miners signaling segwit2x for the first time (search bitcoin or btc around that date). So do you think the market traded billions of $ at that time because of a $50 million Tether dump or because for the first time in YEARS a solution and path forward became visible?? THEY DON’T HAVE BANKING//NO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS/FAKE TETHERS-TERMS OF SERVICE In regards to banking, clearly they have some kind of banking and a way for large amounts of fiat to get in and out. The banking is not for you and me but for regional bitcoin exchanges and other large customers. You know how I know this? If they didn’t the internet would be flooded with Finex withdrawal issues, there would be a price premium on Bitfinex compared to other exchanges, just like Mt. Gox had for so long and also Bitfinex earlier in the year when the banking issues started. This article explains it very clearly (seriously read this article), it has nothing to do with this controversy, just the banking issue in April. https://medium.com/@Austerity_Sucks/why-bitfinex-went-from-a-premium-in-its-crypto-usd-pairs-to-now-a-significant-discount-e7be193d7cb0 TL;DR - All of the imbalances discussed (Finex premium) have been a result of USD frictions into Bitfinex. It has been a chain reaction resulting from the initial freeze to the various gradual withdrawal options. As soon as Bitfinex conclusively addresses the USD flow issues, the crypto pair prices will normalize (which they did) with other exchanges that don’t have banking frictions and USDT price will return to par (which it did). The premiums on Finex and Tether are what would prove something is wrong, yet they are not here. Surprisingly Finex has been at a discount to GDAX and GEMINI recently. Meaning people are willing to take a loss on prices to be able to lend on Finex. This too will normalize as people/bots arb. Aug 9th… From “arguably” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/895339675120013313 Aug 22nd…. To “admitting” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/900230917196836864 Listen to that audio in the second link, listen carefully. His explanation is perfectly reasonable. Banks don’t work well, consistently, or at all with crypto related companies (marijuana companies too for that matter) especially in jurisdictions that are outside US/Europe. Surprise surprise, this is nothing new. When they find out customers, deposits/wire are cryptos related they pull the plug (a reason why Trex/Polo don’t mess with USD). Also, they gave their customers a haircut, probably a lot of complaints about the hack to Wells Fargo and other banks. These are the correspondent's banks, not Finex’s, they have banking. This is how they can receive large institutional deposits and withdrawals. Which I bet make up the majority of the fiat deposits and withdrawals. Classic 80/20 business rule, 20% of your clients are providing 80% of the liquidity plus you are having banking issues (which is expected in crypto-land), so you cut this service to the 80% saving time/resources/headaches for the 20% loss in a single service to them (no fiat withdrawal/deposits- but crypto flows in and out with ease). Again if they weren’t able to get money in and out there would be a premium, there would be a long line of complaints online. I have no reason (or proof) to believe that money is NOT coming into/out of the exchange. It makes total sense too, they are the best lending platform, have one of the most liquid exchanges, and have by far the most reliable and best software/servers/UI/order options. You cannot deny this fact, they are constantly a top 3 exchange in volume, even after a hack. I use Finex (as well as others) because of all those things. Also, they have already been hacked, a second hack seems less likely (IMO, they have more to lose with another hack). They have many big events on the horizon (Ethfinex). Would a company be putting resources into these things if this is all fraud or an exit scam? I find that unlikely. Is this 100% full proof? Of course not, nothing is, especially in crypto, just my reasons for trading there. Institutional Investors - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-legitimate-institutional-investors-really-coming-onto-bitfinex-s-platform-i-don-t-think-so-cb4ed5175092 Here is what this person doesn’t comprehend, what if these institutional investors are… you ready… here it comes… other exchanges that use Tether, as well as other crypto related businesses. It is only $395 million Tethers. These exchanges (Trex, Finex, Polo) are printing money. This isn’t “someone” with 100’s of millions of dollars as the article suggests, it’s many people with millions/thousands of dollars. Again this all ignores the fact that many more people have entered the ecosystem this year. This is proven by Coinbase growth, transaction growth, and exchange growth (both in volume and # of exchanges), and growth in crypto-related sub-Reddits. Yet Bitfinexed is shocked that lending hits ATH’s, but it is perfectly explainable and reasonable based on the evidence and data of gthe ecosystem. Let us not forget BTC is a finite amount, more people are going to increase demand/price, if you think this is a bubble... you haven’t seen anything yet. The TOS are sketchy and a point of concern but there are two things to keep in mind- It was necessary to word it that way, and the market clearly doesn’t care. If they had worded it that they will redeem no matter what, they would have money launderers flocking to the service (bogging down resources), plus law enforcement knocking. Tethers weren’t created to get $ in/out of crypto but to provide a safe haven and liquidity on exchanges that don’t use USD. And I would say they are working perfectly. Very few are withdrawing USDT for USD. I think it is precisely because of what the co-founder of tether refers to here (and below)… “If you want to convert USD₮ into fiat currency (or vice-versa) at tether.to, you must go through the whole “aggressive” KYC/AML process and get verified. I’ve heard from many who tried and were unable to provide sufficient documentation. Tether’s KYC/AML policies were written by experienced compliance officers and it’s critical that it be done properly and with diligence. It really is about “knowing your customer” and making sure that their uses are legitimate.” This is a perfectly reasonable explanation why people are not lining up to cash out of Tether, and also why large/reputable institutions can (exchanges, investors, etc.). TETHERS REPLY TO ALL THIS, PLUS UPCOMING AUDIT https://tether.to/tether-update/ Now ask yourself this, would a company that is operating fraudulently have a roadmap of all these new features that no one will ever use if they don’t provide these promised audits as they say they will by the end of the year? So as of now they have enough runway until the end of the year. I say we give TetheFinex the benefit of the doubt. While Tether could be operating fractionally (so to could any exchange in crypto btw), there is no proof or evidence of it today. It trades at normalized rates. You can’t just create 100’s of million of dollars without the marketing realizing somewhere. Sure, you can say this is a confidence game, but so is crypto, so is the USD, so is the concept of money. I see no reason to be more concerned with this risk than the already risky environment we trade in with exchanges. WHAT IF I”M WRONG? CRYPTO WILL IMPLODE! No it won’t. Sure there will be a dip maybe even a correction, but there are only 395 million Tethers. People will get out of Tether even at massive discounts (until $0) into crypto because they can’t get USD, but not more than the 395 million tethers circulating (at this time). At a certain discount people will understand what is going on and stop trading for Tether. BTC + ETH is worth over $100 billion, how many time does the entire amount of USDT have to turn over to cause a massive crash? What will get hit the hardest are the people left holding tether (if/when they implode) and Trex/Polo/Finex. To think Polo/Trex would rely so much on USDT that they didn’t fully vet it is absurd as well. Whats more likely, Polo/Trex’s due diligence or this @Bitfinexed person based on conjecture? I’ve already seen a Forbes contributor try and get ahold of Bitfinexed on twitter. https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/894437272241569792 Could I be wrong about all of this??? Of course, but, I feel I have provided more evidence than the other side. You are the Judge :) USEFUL INFO Some from u/udecker - Tether co-founder Tether.to is who has the backing for the token, not Bitfinex. Bitfinex is a customer of Tether. If Bitfinex wants more Tether, they make a request to Tether, just like all other Tether customers. Tether waits for USD to show up, and when it does, creates the necessary tethers and credits Bitfinex. They both have Tawainese banking so money can flow back and forth easily. (The banking industry in the country of Taiwan are under scrutiny lately because of larger legal issues not involving crypto, but clearly affecting crypto companies) https://wallet.tether.to/transparency Tether wasn’t designed to be a profit machine. It was designed to be a utility for the crypto community to provide a stable token (with all the benefits of this). Tether’s business model is this: 1. Generate fees from wire deposits and withdrawals and conversions. 2. Interest income on the reserve. Bitfinex’s parent company owns a 20% stake in Tether. People say Tether isn’t being burned. But they are being recycled which is/was always an option. I hope we can have a productive conversation around this without the usual Gox 2.0, sell it all, Bitfinex is the anti-christ comments with no substance. Give us your opinion and perspective because maybe I am missing something… but, maybe you are too. This was quite time consuming (just ask my kids and boss, lol) So if you found this info helpful you can donate if you’d like here, if not, no biggie smalls :) ETH - 0x0181D1C82229BAD741BB6c302ae523aE6DC9a1EE BTC - 14Wz4SCuKwa81UBh1U7mcaCTxMsYLLuGZK BCH- 16uby9gW79tjn5guQG8v5mTsdu6V6cYyKF
EDIT: I realize this is long, but I feel it's important to have this info out there. Maybe save it for later when you see this narrative being pushed around so you can come back and get the other side. EDIT 2: TL:DR - Most negative analysis on this sub lately of Tether are likely from a single biased source that stretches a lot to make his points, and there is simply not enough Tether in the market nor is it concentrated enough to create a catastrophic problem or significant inflation for any USDT currency pair. Like many of you, I have heard the stories and posts about the fraudulent tether, I trade in this space on many exchanges and the growing concern is worrying, so I did my due diligence, and I would like to share it with the community. First and most importantly IMO, all this controversy stems from just one account/person. A person on twitter going by the handle @Bitfinexed - https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed Here you can see this person's writings - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest Spoofy, Tethers and institutional investors are what they contend to be the lies and fraud, AND that this entire rally in 2017 is based on fraudulent Tethers and spoofing, and that this will implode the markets. I feel this is also important… Turns out this person sold at $1000, maybe the real reason he is on this mission??… https://twitter.com/whalepool/status/896460700461277185 Now for some troubling info, the majority of this narrative (FUD??) here on Reddit in the last month come from just three accounts. https://www.reddit.com/useAtlasRand1/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/usecetusfund/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/useAnythingForSuccess As you can see these accounts entire mission is to post constantly about this. They all show up on the other’s post to comment regularly. Btw, some people on the pro-finex side think this is a smear campaign from other exchanges. I don’t believe this to be the case. This person(s) only talk about TetheFinex, yet Tether is used and traded by the $millions daily on 3 of the top 5 exchanges, Finex, Bittrex, Polo, yet never a word about those other exchanges. (Check the USDT volume on other exchanges) https://coinmarketcap.com/assets/tethe#markets Therefore, if it is an exchange, it isn’t Trex/Polo because this would affect them as well. If it was an exchange other than Trex/Polo they would have plenty of fire power against 3 of the top 5 exchanges with Tether fraud. This leads me to believe it is most likely a sad person(s) with an ax to grind. They might have lost their $ on Finex to what they believe are spoofers/fraud and or they were part of the finex hack and sold there BFX too early. Btw I see contention that Bitfinex did NOT pay back the $ from the hack. They did, but some people are mad because they sold BFX early and didn’t recoup full $ amount from haircuts, but that was their decision. ~ POINTS OF CONTENTION SPOOFING This is what set my alarm bells off about these articles I read from Bitfinexed. Specifically spoofing… https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 and this nugget…“And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” from this article… https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-fraudulent-tethers-being-used-for-margin-lending-on-bitfinex-5de9dd80f330 Claiming spoofing shows this person has limited markets/trading knowledge. Clearly they haven’t watched an order book of any exchange in crypto, equities, or Forex. This is called scalping or scare walls. Again this is done in every market around the globe. Here is a professional FOREX trader talking about scalping, how it works, who/why they do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMIPmgRb_M&list=WL&index=94 TL;DW - they do this to get the price where they want it because they know people are watching the order book (the video is quite enlightening), and the key point that keeps this from being an illegal activity (on regulated exchanges) is THAT THEY DO MAKE TRADES FOR THOSE SIZES eventually. This doesn’t always work and they get stuck in these positions. Risk/reward. The ironic part about this spoofing idea is Finex is one of the few, if not only exchanges, that offer hidden orders. So people trying to scalp always have to worry if there is a monster hidden order lurking. Go to the UPDATE: AUGUST 7TH of this story and watch the video he claims proves spoofing and Phil Potter admitting it in the voice over. https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 I see nothing wrong with what Phil says and no proof of anything in the video. Again this is true on every exchange trading anything of volume in the world. People with large amounts of money move markets, oh the horror. I “technically” do this when I place an order and pull it for whatever reason (scared, mistake, etc.) just not in large sums, but I would if I had large sums. “And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” The crash they are referring to is from the early June ATH to the mid-July correction. A 45-day crash? Well, I am one of those people that went margin long. And many many others who read charts, resistance, support, retracement info. Again, this smacks of someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. REASON FOR PRICE RISE/BTC GOES UP WHEN TETHERS ARE CREATED This is absurd. This completely negates everything else, the Japanese currency ruling and them entering the market, Koreans coming into the market in a huge way (they now have the largest exchange by far with close to a Billion traded DAILY, oh and they don’t use Tether at all), the successful hard fork, or the more (positive!) interest from the media and people than ever before in BTC history. Instead, we are supposed to think that $395 million dollars of tethers are the reason for this rise in a $160+ Billion market cap.  C’mon people! Look at that volume for the last 30 days. https://imgur.com/a/vKJ5g Also, the overwhelming majority of trade does not exist in Tether but KRW, CNY, USD, JPY. Tethers are usually created when extra liquidity is needed, be it a crash or a spike. Because more people are trading. They try to prove Tether boosts the market with this picture in their article. https://imgur.com/a/274SE The problem is 2 of the last 3 tether dumps coincide with a downturn. In fact, there is nothing in this graph that proves this theory. Also, the last tether dump/price rise coincides perfectly with the news of the majority of miners signaling segwit2x for the first time (search bitcoin or btc around that date). So do you think the market traded billions of $ at that time because of a $50 million Tether dump or because for the first time in YEARS a solution and path forward became visible?? THEY DON’T HAVE BANKING//NO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS/FAKE TETHERS-TERMS OF SERVICE In regards to banking, clearly they have some kind of banking and a way for large amounts of fiat to get in and out. The banking is not for you and me but for regional bitcoin exchanges and other large customers. You know how I know this? If they didn’t the internet would be flooded with Finex withdrawal issues, there would be a price premium on Bitfinex compared to other exchanges, just like Mt. Gox had for so long and also Bitfinex earlier in the year when the banking issues started. This article explains it very clearly (seriously read this article), it has nothing to do with this controversy, just the banking issue in April. https://medium.com/@Austerity_Sucks/why-bitfinex-went-from-a-premium-in-its-crypto-usd-pairs-to-now-a-significant-discount-e7be193d7cb0 TL;DR - All of the imbalances discussed (Finex premium) have been a result of USD frictions into Bitfinex. It has been a chain reaction resulting from the initial freeze to the various gradual withdrawal options. As soon as Bitfinex conclusively addresses the USD flow issues, the crypto pair prices will normalize (which they did) with other exchanges that don’t have banking frictions and USDT price will return to par (which it did). The premiums on Finex and Tether are what would prove something is wrong, yet they are not here. Surprisingly Finex has been at a discount to GDAX and GEMINI recently. Meaning people are willing to take a loss on prices to be able to lend on Finex. This too will normalize as people/bots arb. Aug 9th… From “arguably” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/895339675120013313 Aug 22nd…. To “admitting” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/900230917196836864 Listen to that audio in the second link, listen carefully. His explanation is perfectly reasonable. Banks don’t work well, consistently, or at all with crypto related companies (marijuana companies too for that matter) especially in jurisdictions that are outside US/Europe. Surprise surprise, this is nothing new. When they find out customers, deposits/wire are cryptos related they pull the plug (a reason why Trex/Polo don’t mess with USD). Also, they gave their customers a haircut, probably a lot of complaints about the hack to Wells Fargo and other banks. These are the correspondent's banks, not Finex’s, they have banking. This is how they can receive large institutional deposits and withdrawals. Which I bet make up the majority of the fiat deposits and withdrawals. Classic 80/20 business rule, 20% of your clients are providing 80% of the liquidity plus you are having banking issues (which is expected in crypto-land), so you cut this service to the 80% saving time/resources/headaches for the 20% loss in a single service to them (no fiat withdrawal/deposits- but crypto flows in and out with ease). Again if they weren’t able to get money in and out there would be a premium, there would be a long line of complaints online. I have no reason (or proof) to believe that money is NOT coming into/out of the exchange. It makes total sense too, they are the best lending platform, have one of the most liquid exchanges, and have by far the most reliable and best software/servers/UI/order options. You cannot deny this fact, they are constantly a top 3 exchange in volume, even after a hack. I use Finex (as well as others) because of all those things. Also, they have already been hacked, a second hack seems less likely (IMO, they have more to lose with another hack). They have many big events on the horizon (Ethfinex). Would a company be putting resources into these things if this is all fraud or an exit scam? I find that unlikely. Is this 100% full proof? Of course not, nothing is, especially in crypto, just my reasons for trading there. Institutional Investors - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-legitimate-institutional-investors-really-coming-onto-bitfinex-s-platform-i-don-t-think-so-cb4ed5175092 Here is what this person doesn’t comprehend, what if these institutional investors are… you ready… here it comes… other exchanges that use Tether, as well as other crypto related businesses. It is only $395 million Tethers. These exchanges (Trex, Finex, Polo) are printing money. This isn’t “someone” with 100’s of millions of dollars as the article suggests, it’s many people with millions/thousands of dollars. Again this all ignores the fact that many more people have entered the ecosystem this year. This is proven by Coinbase growth, transaction growth, and exchange growth (both in volume and # of exchanges), and growth in crypto-related sub-Reddits. Yet Bitfinexed is shocked that lending hits ATH’s, but it is perfectly explainable and reasonable based on the evidence and data of gthe ecosystem. Let us not forget BTC is a finite amount, more people are going to increase demand/price, if you think this is a bubble... you haven’t seen anything yet. The TOS are sketchy and a point of concern but there are two things to keep in mind- It was necessary to word it that way, and the market clearly doesn’t care. If they had worded it that they will redeem no matter what, they would have money launderers flocking to the service (bogging down resources), plus law enforcement knocking. Tethers weren’t created to get $ in/out of crypto but to provide a safe haven and liquidity on exchanges that don’t use USD. And I would say they are working perfectly. Very few are withdrawing USDT for USD. I think it is precisely because of what the co-founder of tether refers to here (and below)… “If you want to convert USD₮ into fiat currency (or vice-versa) at tether.to, you must go through the whole “aggressive” KYC/AML process and get verified. I’ve heard from many who tried and were unable to provide sufficient documentation. Tether’s KYC/AML policies were written by experienced compliance officers and it’s critical that it be done properly and with diligence. It really is about “knowing your customer” and making sure that their uses are legitimate.” This is a perfectly reasonable explanation why people are not lining up to cash out of Tether, and also why large/reputable institutions can (exchanges, investors, etc.). TETHERS REPLY TO ALL THIS, PLUS UPCOMING AUDIT https://tether.to/tether-update/ Now ask yourself this, would a company that is operating fraudulently have a roadmap of all these new features that no one will ever use if they don’t provide these promised audits as they say they will by the end of the year? So as of now they have enough runway until the end of the year. I say we give TetheFinex the benefit of the doubt. While Tether could be operating fractionally (so to could any exchange in crypto btw), there is no proof or evidence of it today. It trades at normalized rates. You can’t just create 100’s of million of dollars without the marketing realizing somewhere. Sure, you can say this is a confidence game, but so is crypto, so is the USD, so is the concept of money. I see no reason to be more concerned with this risk than the already risky environment we trade in with exchanges. WHAT IF I”M WRONG? CRYPTO WILL IMPLODE! No it won’t. Sure there will be a dip maybe even a correction, but there are only 395 million Tethers. People will get out of Tether even at massive discounts (until $0) into crypto because they can’t get USD, but not more than the 395 million tethers circulating (at this time). At a certain discount people will understand what is going on and stop trading for Tether. BTC + ETH is worth over $100 billion, how many time does the entire amount of USDT have to turn over to cause a massive crash? What will get hit the hardest are the people left holding tether (if/when they implode) and Trex/Polo/Finex. To think Polo/Trex would rely so much on USDT that they didn’t fully vet it is absurd as well. Whats more likely, Polo/Trex’s due diligence or this @Bitfinexed person based on conjecture? I’ve already seen a Forbes contributor try and get ahold of Bitfinexed on twitter. https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/894437272241569792 Could I be wrong about all of this??? Of course, but, I feel I have provided more evidence than the other side. You are the Judge :) USEFUL INFO Some from u/udecker - Tether co-founder Tether.to is who has the backing for the token, not Bitfinex. Bitfinex is a customer of Tether. If Bitfinex wants more Tether, they make a request to Tether, just like all other Tether customers. Tether waits for USD to show up, and when it does, creates the necessary tethers and credits Bitfinex. They both have Tawainese banking so money can flow back and forth easily. (The banking industry in the country of Taiwan are under scrutiny lately because of larger legal issues not involving crypto, but clearly affecting crypto companies) https://wallet.tether.to/transparency Tether wasn’t designed to be a profit machine. It was designed to be a utility for the crypto community to provide a stable token (with all the benefits of this). Tether’s business model is this: 1. Generate fees from wire deposits and withdrawals and conversions. 2. Interest income on the reserve. Bitfinex’s parent company owns a 20% stake in Tether. People say Tether isn’t being burned. But they are being recycled which is/was always an option. I hope we can have a productive conversation around this without the usual Gox 2.0, sell it all, Bitfinex is the anti-christ comments with no substance. Give us your opinion and perspective because maybe I am missing something… but, maybe you are too. This was quite time consuming (just ask my kids and boss, lol) So if you found this info helpful you can donate if you’d like here, if not, no biggie smalls :) BCH- 16uby9gW79tjn5guQG8v5mTsdu6V6cYyKF
EDIT: I realize this is long, but I feel it's important to have this info out there. Maybe save it for later when you see this narrative being pushed around so you can come back and get the other side. EDIT 2: TL:DR - Most negative analysis on this sub lately of Tether are likely from a single biased source that stretches a lot to make his points, and there is simply not enough Tether in the market nor is it concentrated enough to create a catastrophic problem or significant inflation for any USDT currency pair. Like many of you, I have heard the stories and posts about the fraudulent tether, I trade in this space on many exchanges and the growing concern is worrying, so I did my due diligence, and I would like to share it with the community. First and most importantly IMO, all this controversy stems from just one account/person. A person on twitter going by the handle @Bitfinexed - https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed Here you can see this person's writings - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest Spoofy, Tethers and institutional investors are what they contend to be the lies and fraud, AND that this entire rally in 2017 is based on fraudulent Tethers and spoofing, and that this will implode the markets. I feel this is also important… Turns out this person sold at $1000, maybe the real reason he is on this mission??… https://twitter.com/whalepool/status/896460700461277185 Now for some troubling info, the majority of this narrative (FUD??) here on Reddit in the last month come from just three accounts. https://www.reddit.com/useAtlasRand1/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/usecetusfund/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/useAnythingForSuccess As you can see these accounts entire mission is to post constantly about this. They all show up on the other’s post to comment regularly. Btw, some people on the pro-finex side think this is a smear campaign from other exchanges. I don’t believe this to be the case. This person(s) only talk about TetheFinex, yet Tether is used and traded by the $millions daily on 3 of the top 5 exchanges, Finex, Bittrex, Polo, yet never a word about those other exchanges. (Check the USDT volume on other exchanges) https://coinmarketcap.com/assets/tethe#markets Therefore, if it is an exchange, it isn’t Trex/Polo because this would affect them as well. If it was an exchange other than Trex/Polo they would have plenty of fire power against 3 of the top 5 exchanges with Tether fraud. This leads me to believe it is most likely a sad person(s) with an ax to grind. They might have lost their $ on Finex to what they believe are spoofers/fraud and or they were part of the finex hack and sold there BFX too early. Btw I see contention that Bitfinex did NOT pay back the $ from the hack. They did, but some people are mad because they sold BFX early and didn’t recoup full $ amount from haircuts, but that was their decision. ~ POINTS OF CONTENTION SPOOFING This is what set my alarm bells off about these articles I read from Bitfinexed. Specifically spoofing… https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 and this nugget…“And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” from this article… https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-fraudulent-tethers-being-used-for-margin-lending-on-bitfinex-5de9dd80f330 Claiming spoofing shows this person has limited markets/trading knowledge. Clearly they haven’t watched an order book of any exchange in crypto, equities, or Forex. This is called scalping or scare walls. Again this is done in every market around the globe. Here is a professional FOREX trader talking about scalping, how it works, who/why they do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMIPmgRb_M&list=WL&index=94 TL;DW - they do this to get the price where they want it because they know people are watching the order book (the video is quite enlightening), and the key point that keeps this from being an illegal activity (on regulated exchanges) is THAT THEY DO MAKE TRADES FOR THOSE SIZES eventually. This doesn’t always work and they get stuck in these positions. Risk/reward. The ironic part about this spoofing idea is Finex is one of the few, if not only exchanges, that offer hidden orders. So people trying to scalp always have to worry if there is a monster hidden order lurking. Go to the UPDATE: AUGUST 7TH of this story and watch the video he claims proves spoofing and Phil Potter admitting it in the voice over. https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 I see nothing wrong with what Phil says and no proof of anything in the video. Again this is true on every exchange trading anything of volume in the world. People with large amounts of money move markets, oh the horror. I “technically” do this when I place an order and pull it for whatever reason (scared, mistake, etc.) just not in large sums, but I would if I had large sums. “And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” The crash they are referring to is from the early June ATH to the mid-July correction. A 45-day crash? Well, I am one of those people that went margin long. And many many others who read charts, resistance, support, retracement info. Again, this smacks of someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. REASON FOR PRICE RISE/BTC GOES UP WHEN TETHERS ARE CREATED This is absurd. This completely negates everything else, the Japanese currency ruling and them entering the market, Koreans coming into the market in a huge way (they now have the largest exchange by far with close to a Billion traded DAILY, oh and they don’t use Tether at all), the successful hard fork, or the more (positive!) interest from the media and people than ever before in BTC history. Instead, we are supposed to think that $395 million dollars of tethers are the reason for this rise in a $160+ Billion market cap.  C’mon people! Look at that volume for the last 30 days. https://imgur.com/a/vKJ5g Also, the overwhelming majority of trade does not exist in Tether but KRW, CNY, USD, JPY. Tethers are usually created when extra liquidity is needed, be it a crash or a spike. Because more people are trading. They try to prove Tether boosts the market with this picture in their article. https://imgur.com/a/274SE The problem is 2 of the last 3 tether dumps coincide with a downturn. In fact, there is nothing in this graph that proves this theory. Also, the last tether dump/price rise coincides perfectly with the news of the majority of miners signaling segwit2x for the first time (search bitcoin or btc around that date). So do you think the market traded billions of $ at that time because of a $50 million Tether dump or because for the first time in YEARS a solution and path forward became visible?? THEY DON’T HAVE BANKING//NO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS/FAKE TETHERS-TERMS OF SERVICE In regards to banking, clearly they have some kind of banking and a way for large amounts of fiat to get in and out. The banking is not for you and me but for regional bitcoin exchanges and other large customers. You know how I know this? If they didn’t the internet would be flooded with Finex withdrawal issues, there would be a price premium on Bitfinex compared to other exchanges, just like Mt. Gox had for so long and also Bitfinex earlier in the year when the banking issues started. This article explains it very clearly (seriously read this article), it has nothing to do with this controversy, just the banking issue in April. https://medium.com/@Austerity_Sucks/why-bitfinex-went-from-a-premium-in-its-crypto-usd-pairs-to-now-a-significant-discount-e7be193d7cb0 TL;DR - All of the imbalances discussed (Finex premium) have been a result of USD frictions into Bitfinex. It has been a chain reaction resulting from the initial freeze to the various gradual withdrawal options. As soon as Bitfinex conclusively addresses the USD flow issues, the crypto pair prices will normalize (which they did) with other exchanges that don’t have banking frictions and USDT price will return to par (which it did). The premiums on Finex and Tether are what would prove something is wrong, yet they are not here. Surprisingly Finex has been at a discount to GDAX and GEMINI recently. Meaning people are willing to take a loss on prices to be able to lend on Finex. This too will normalize as people/bots arb. Aug 9th… From “arguably” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/895339675120013313 Aug 22nd…. To “admitting” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/900230917196836864 Listen to that audio in the second link, listen carefully. His explanation is perfectly reasonable. Banks don’t work well, consistently, or at all with crypto related companies (marijuana companies too for that matter) especially in jurisdictions that are outside US/Europe. Surprise surprise, this is nothing new. When they find out customers, deposits/wire are cryptos related they pull the plug (a reason why Trex/Polo don’t mess with USD). Also, they gave their customers a haircut, probably a lot of complaints about the hack to Wells Fargo and other banks. These are the correspondent's banks, not Finex’s, they have banking. This is how they can receive large institutional deposits and withdrawals. Which I bet make up the majority of the fiat deposits and withdrawals. Classic 80/20 business rule, 20% of your clients are providing 80% of the liquidity plus you are having banking issues (which is expected in crypto-land), so you cut this service to the 80% saving time/resources/headaches for the 20% loss in a single service to them (no fiat withdrawal/deposits- but crypto flows in and out with ease). Again if they weren’t able to get money in and out there would be a premium, there would be a long line of complaints online. I have no reason (or proof) to believe that money is NOT coming into/out of the exchange. It makes total sense too, they are the best lending platform, have one of the most liquid exchanges, and have by far the most reliable and best software/servers/UI/order options. You cannot deny this fact, they are constantly a top 3 exchange in volume, even after a hack. I use Finex (as well as others) because of all those things. Also, they have already been hacked, a second hack seems less likely (IMO, they have more to lose with another hack). They have many big events on the horizon (Ethfinex). Would a company be putting resources into these things if this is all fraud or an exit scam? I find that unlikely. Is this 100% full proof? Of course not, nothing is, especially in crypto, just my reasons for trading there. Institutional Investors - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-legitimate-institutional-investors-really-coming-onto-bitfinex-s-platform-i-don-t-think-so-cb4ed5175092 Here is what this person doesn’t comprehend, what if these institutional investors are… you ready… here it comes… other exchanges that use Tether, as well as other crypto related businesses. It is only $395 million Tethers. These exchanges (Trex, Finex, Polo) are printing money. This isn’t “someone” with 100’s of millions of dollars as the article suggests, it’s many people with millions/thousands of dollars. Again this all ignores the fact that many more people have entered the ecosystem this year. This is proven by Coinbase growth, transaction growth, and exchange growth (both in volume and # of exchanges), and growth in crypto-related sub-Reddits. Yet Bitfinexed is shocked that lending hits ATH’s, but it is perfectly explainable and reasonable based on the evidence and data of gthe ecosystem. Let us not forget BTC is a finite amount, more people are going to increase demand/price, if you think this is a bubble... you haven’t seen anything yet. The TOS are sketchy and a point of concern but there are two things to keep in mind- It was necessary to word it that way, and the market clearly doesn’t care. If they had worded it that they will redeem no matter what, they would have money launderers flocking to the service (bogging down resources), plus law enforcement knocking. Tethers weren’t created to get $ in/out of crypto but to provide a safe haven and liquidity on exchanges that don’t use USD. And I would say they are working perfectly. Very few are withdrawing USDT for USD. I think it is precisely because of what the co-founder of tether refers to here (and below)… “If you want to convert USD₮ into fiat currency (or vice-versa) at tether.to, you must go through the whole “aggressive” KYC/AML process and get verified. I’ve heard from many who tried and were unable to provide sufficient documentation. Tether’s KYC/AML policies were written by experienced compliance officers and it’s critical that it be done properly and with diligence. It really is about “knowing your customer” and making sure that their uses are legitimate.” This is a perfectly reasonable explanation why people are not lining up to cash out of Tether, and also why large/reputable institutions can (exchanges, investors, etc.). TETHERS REPLY TO ALL THIS, PLUS UPCOMING AUDIT https://tether.to/tether-update/ Now ask yourself this, would a company that is operating fraudulently have a roadmap of all these new features that no one will ever use if they don’t provide these promised audits as they say they will by the end of the year? So as of now they have enough runway until the end of the year. I say we give TetheFinex the benefit of the doubt. While Tether could be operating fractionally (so to could any exchange in crypto btw), there is no proof or evidence of it today. It trades at normalized rates. You can’t just create 100’s of million of dollars without the marketing realizing somewhere. Sure, you can say this is a confidence game, but so is crypto, so is the USD, so is the concept of money. I see no reason to be more concerned with this risk than the already risky environment we trade in with exchanges. WHAT IF I”M WRONG? CRYPTO WILL IMPLODE! No it won’t. Sure there will be a dip maybe even a correction, but there are only 395 million Tethers. People will get out of Tether even at massive discounts (until $0) into crypto because they can’t get USD, but not more than the 395 million tethers circulating (at this time). At a certain discount people will understand what is going on and stop trading for Tether. BTC + ETH is worth over $100 billion, how many time does the entire amount of USDT have to turn over to cause a massive crash? What will get hit the hardest are the people left holding tether (if/when they implode) and Trex/Polo/Finex. To think Polo/Trex would rely so much on USDT that they didn’t fully vet it is absurd as well. Whats more likely, Polo/Trex’s due diligence or this @Bitfinexed person based on conjecture? I’ve already seen a Forbes contributor try and get ahold of Bitfinexed on twitter. https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/894437272241569792 Could I be wrong about all of this??? Of course, but, I feel I have provided more evidence than the other side. You are the Judge :) USEFUL INFO Some from u/udecker - Tether co-founder Tether.to is who has the backing for the token, not Bitfinex. Bitfinex is a customer of Tether. If Bitfinex wants more Tether, they make a request to Tether, just like all other Tether customers. Tether waits for USD to show up, and when it does, creates the necessary tethers and credits Bitfinex. They both have Tawainese banking so money can flow back and forth easily. (The banking industry in the country of Taiwan are under scrutiny lately because of larger legal issues not involving crypto, but clearly affecting crypto companies) https://wallet.tether.to/transparency Tether wasn’t designed to be a profit machine. It was designed to be a utility for the crypto community to provide a stable token (with all the benefits of this). Tether’s business model is this: 1. Generate fees from wire deposits and withdrawals and conversions. 2. Interest income on the reserve. Bitfinex’s parent company owns a 20% stake in Tether. People say Tether isn’t being burned. But they are being recycled which is/was always an option. I hope we can have a productive conversation around this without the usual Gox 2.0, sell it all, Bitfinex is the anti-christ comments with no substance. Give us your opinion and perspective because maybe I am missing something… but, maybe you are too. This was quite time consuming (just ask my kids and boss, lol) So if you found this info helpful you can donate if you’d like here, if not, no biggie smalls :) ETH - 0x0181D1C82229BAD741BB6c302ae523aE6DC9a1EE
Chin up boys and girls – the DApps (Decentralized Apps) are finally coming. Utility, not speculation/manipulation/shilling etc., is what, in the end, will give/justify the value of blockchains.
Of the top 100 tokens, 91 of them are on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20). The most valuable non-Ethereum tokens by market cap are USDT (4) and GAS (25). Eventually, ICX (6), VeChain (3) and EOS (1) and several others will be migrating to their own blockchains. Still, this leaves Ethereum with an overwhelming market dominance for tokens (aka DApps) and Ethereum has been clearly recognized as the blockchain to launch ICOs/DApps.
For the rest of March + Q2 (April - June) we are going see the biggest implementation of DApps on the Ethereum mainnet to date. Below I’ve laid out, in alphabetical order and in varying detail, what’s happening between now and the end of Q2 of this year. (I’ve also added some info, where especially relevant, of big stuff coming after Q2). I hope any biases I may have do not come through too much in the writing.
To hammer home on utility once more: One year ago today, the daily transaction count was at 57,000. Yesterday, the network confirmed over 752,000 transactions (a 13x increase) (And remember, ATH in January was 1.349 million txns!) [Source]
AirSwap is a decentralized exchange for trading Ethereum based tokens. It allows its users to trade tokens in a peer-to-peer fashion across the Ethereum blockchain. The token trader is currently live, in a limited capacity, trading AST and (W)ETH.
More token pairs will be added before the end of the Q1, as part of the upcoming release, Token Marketplace. A mobile app is also in development and will be entering beta soon.
Aragon is a project that aims to disintermediate the creation and maintenance of decentralized organizational structures by using blockchain technology. "We provide the tools for anyone to become an entrepreneur and run their own organization, to take control of their own lives." Originally slated for a February release, Aragon Core v0.5 (which is a fully functioning version of the DApp on mainnet) should be released any day now.
Augur is a fully-decentralized, open-source prediction market platform built on the Ethereum blockchain for any and all predictive markets. Augur Beta is currently live on Kovan testnet and launch is “months away.”
In order to mitigate bugs and problems, the first market on mainnet will be something along the lines of 'Will there be a critical vulnerability discovered in Augur by a certain date?” Given Augur’s development history, this could be launching a little after Q2, but the progress looks promising.
UPDATE (3/7/18): Contract audits are complete and the full audit report of augur-core will be released next week. "Some work still being down on UI, Augur Node, and additional screens." Next step is the bug bounty (first prediction market on Augur).
UPDATE (3/12/18): Core security audit report is released following a four-month long audit by Zeppelin. Augur's contracts are ready to ship and "over the coming weeks we plan to release more details around a bug bounty program and market."
BlockCAT lets anyone create, manage, and deploy smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain with just a few clicks. No programming required. BlockCAT will be releasing their first visual smart contract on the mainnet on March 14 (the full details of exactly what this contract does, will also be released when it goes live.)
UPDATE (3/14/18): BlockCAT's first visual smart contract, Tabby Pay, has been released on mainnet. Tabby Pay is a smart contract that’s built to prevent user error - if you send Ether to the wrong wallet, you can cancel the payment and your Ether will be returned.
Digix is a DAO (Distributed Autonomous Organization) and is composed of two main parts: DGD and DGX, both of which are ERC-20 tokens.
DGD is a governance token that allows holders to vote on proposals that are submitted for the growth of the Digix ecosystem and offers rewards to holders on the basis of their successful contribution to the Digix Ecosystem.
DGX is a gold-backed token and is slated for a public market release by end of Q1 2018. DGX is backed by physical gold on a basis of 1 token to 1 gram of gold. "DGX represents value on the blockchain that can be retained over time with relatively little volatility; giving it greater utility than Ether for a wide range of use-cases. Retail, Rentals, Salaries, Commerce, Lending, Wealth Management."
UPDATE (3/13/18): DGX will be launching on mainnet this week and Digix will be partnering with Kyber Network to be the first decentralized exchange to offer their asset tokens (like DGX) against ETH at launch.
UPDATE (3/23/18): The first couple thousand DGX have been created on mainnet and the marketplace opens on April 8. Prior to that, the KYC Whitelist will open on March 26
Ethorse is a DApp for betting on the price of Cryptocurrencies and winning ETH from everyone who bets against you. Users bet with ETH on one of the listed coins or tokens to have the highest price gain in a fixed period. Currently live on the Kovan testnet, with mainnet launch before end of Q2.
UPDATE (3/22/18): Ethorse has launched a bug bounty to stress test the security of its smart contracts and they are estimating the DApp to go live on mainnet no later than mid-April
FunFair is a decentralised gaming technology platform which uses the Ethereum blockchain, smart contracts and their own Fate (State) Channels to deliver casino solutions with games that are “fun, fast and fair.” FunFair has been on testnet for many months now and the Showcase has been live for even longer. Currently on-boarding casino operators, FunFair is on schedule to launch with its first operator in early Q2.
FundRequest is a decentralized marketplace for open source collaboration. It introduces an easy and secure way to reward bugfixes and feature builds on any project. The FundRequest platform will be going live on mainnet in Q1-Q2 and will allow users to fund and crowdfund open source issues on GitHub using the FND token. Developers can claim the FND token after they’ve successfully resolved the GitHub issue. Q2 will also bring the ability to use any ERC-20 token to fund Open Source Issues on GitHub.
Giveth is an Open-Source Platform for Building Decentralized Altruistic Communities. The first working prototype of their “Minimum Loveable Product,” the Giveth Donation Application, is live on testnet and they “expect to fully open the platform for the public in March 2018.”
Golem has branded itself as “the worldwide supercomputer.” Golem Brass beta will be releasing on the mainnet before end of Q2, allowing users to sell their computing power and earn real GNT for the first time.
iExec is a decentralized cloud computing platform that is blockchain-based. Using a decentralized cloud that connects users to one another it aims to tackle the current limitations of centralized cloud computing that are holding business and innovation back.
Launching by March 31, iExec 2.0 — Cloud Marketplace will include the full marketplace platform network, with the PoCo algorithm (Proof-of-Contribution) enabling the first decentralized cloud.
Kyber network is an on-chain protocol which allows instant exchange and conversion of digital assets and cryptocurrencies with high liquidity. Launched on mainnet in February and was at first only available to people on the ICO whitelist but has since slowly started allowing new user on the platform. Currently only has a few tokens listed but that list will continue to grow and will hopefully bring along with it a surge in daily users/volume.
MakerDao is a decentralized stable coin project that is currently live on mainnet. It is composed of two main parts: MKR and dai (both are ERC-20 tokens).
MKR is a governance token: "MKR holders are the highest authority in the Maker system - they govern the system and benefit financially when they govern it well, but they also have to foot the bill if things are mismanaged - as a group they need strong social cooperation and a vigilant attitude towards governance."
Dai is a decentralized stable coin that is price stabilized against the value of the U.S. Dollar. Dai is used in conjunction with their Oasisdex decentralized exchange, and their CDP (collaterized debt position) margin trading platform to offer "a full solution for global decentralized finance where everyone gets to benefit from the massive economies of scale that become available when global finance is done right."
Currently, dai is only collateralized by Ether but multi-collateral dai will be released in Q2. This means dai will begin to be backed by gold (through DGX) and other ERC-20 tokens. Maker is also looking into collateralizing more traditional investments, like real estate, in the future.
This project can take a little time to understand, so here's a thorough ELIM5 walkthrough.
The Melon protocol is a portal to digital asset management on the blockchain. The frontend operates on top of IPFS, while the backend leverages off a set of Ethereum smart contracts. Melonport just launched on mainnet and they currently have a bug bounty with 500 MLN in it. In a few weeks, the current version will be shut down for fixes and a new version will roll out. Melonport: "Disrupting the US$84.9 trillion asset management industry, one block at a time."
OmiseGo is the Plasma decentralized exchange, hosting an open-source digital wallet platform created by parent company, Omise, connecting mainstream payments, cross-border remittances, and much more. They just had their White Label Wallet SDK public release.
In Q2, OmiseGO will deliver the OmiseGO network and lay the foundations in preparation for Plasma. In Q2 we will see the OmiseGO Proof of Stake public blockchain release, meaning staking will be possible.
(OMG’s cash in/out interface and the Plasma mainnet launch are scheduled for the tail end of 2018/early 2019. Learn more about Plasma from the most cheerful person I know, Karl Floersch, here
Request is a decentralized network that allows anyone to request a payment for which the recipient can pay in a secure way. The first iteration of Request working with Ethereum on mainnet is still on track to launch before March 31. The code for mainnet is currently being audited and when the audits are done, a bug bounty program will follow.
UPDATE (3/16/18): Request is currently undergoing its second smart contract audit, which will be followed by a bug bounty program. Request is still on track to be released on mainnet on/before March 31, 2018.
A cryptoeconomic powered adult entertainment ecosystem built on the Ethereum network. Basically, a decentralized cam site (plus a lot more!) Launching on mainnet in Q2 is SpankChain Camsite v1 which will allow for ETH + ERC20 payments and public and private shows all while implementing a low 5% fee for performers (According to their whitepaper, most adult camsites take between a 30-50% cut of performer earnings on top of payment processing fees).
UPDATE (3/23/18): According to community manager Chase Cole, they are aiming to launch the camsite on April 2.
Streamr tokenises streaming data to enable a new way for machines and people to trade it on a decentralised p2p network. The data marketplace will be coming to mainnet by March 31.
0x is a protocol that facilitates trustless peer-to-peer exchange of ERC20 tokens. 0x protocol is free to use and allows anyone to create a decentralized exchange; we call these relayers. This isn’t a DApp, but allows for the creation of DApps.
A list of some of the DEXs, in varying states of development, that will be utilizing 0x:
Also, an informative article about some of the differences between the various decentralized exchange protocols here. Some general Ethereum news to be excited about:
Vitalik recently hinted, in a since deleted tweet, that the sharding testnet will be coming online in the near future (I think Q2 isn’t too early a guess).
What is sharding? Sharding is where the entire state of the network is split into a bunch of partitions called shards that contain their own independent piece of state and transaction history. In this system, certain nodes would process transactions only for certain shards, allowing the throughput of transactions processed in total across all shards to be much higher than having a single shard do all the work as the mainchain does now. [Source]
What is Casper? Casper FFG aka Vitalik’s Casper is a hybrid POW/POS consensus mechanism. This is the version of Casper that is going to be implemented first. In a Proof of Stake system, validators stake a portion of their Ethers and start validating blocks. Meaning, when they discover a block which they think can be added to the chain, they will validate it by placing a bet on it. [Source]
(To stay up-to-date on Ethereum research development, check out Ethresear.ch)
The Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) is March 8-10 in Paris. Talks will focus around “scalability, anonymity, development tools, governance compliance” among other topics.
Speakers include representatives from the Ethereum Foundation, Ledger, Metamask, Shapeshift, Oraclize, Uport, Web3Foundation, Melonport, ConsenSys, JP Morgan, Coinbase – Toshi, Parity, SpankChain, FunFair, Aragon, AirSwap, EEA, IExec, Cosmos, OmiseGO, Circle, Gnosis, among others.
UPDATE: EthCC was a resounding success! If you missed it or want to re-watch any of the talks, check out this handy thread of videos, painstakingly culled and timestamped by u/alsomahler.
The Ethereum Developer Conference (EDCON) is May 3-5 in Toronto. This will be the biggest ETH dev conference since DEVCON 3 last November. The agenda is still being worked out, but speakers include representatives from the Ethereum Foundation, Polkadot, Parity, Plasma, OmiseGO, Cosmos, Tendermint, Giveth, Maker, Gnosis, and many others.
5.6 billion requests per day for Infura.io (Decentralized web3 infrastructure)
280,000 downloads of TruffleSuit (ETH development framework) [Source]
ConsenSys has grown to over 600 employees in six major offices located around the world. I personally think ConsenSys is important (and awesome) because they are huge Ethereum evangelists and provide (in)valuable resources to help bring DApps come to life!
From their website: “The ConsenSys “hub” coordinates, incubates, accelerates and spawns “spoke” ventures through development, resource sharing, acquisitions, investments and the formation of joint ventures. These spokes benefit from foundational components built by ConsenSys that enable new services and business models to be built on the blockchain.”
Several of the projects I listed above are ConSensys formations including AirSwap and MetaMask.
Thanks for reading this far! Hopefully it wasn’t too exhausting of a read.
I am certain I have forgotten some DApps, so please feel free to comment/PM any and all suggestions/corrections to make this list more informative/inclusive/accurate and I will update it. TL;DR
EDIT: I realize this is long, but I feel it's important to have this info out there. Maybe save it for later when you see this narrative being pushed around so you can come back and get the other side. EDIT 2: TL:DR - Most negative analysis on this sub lately of Tether are likely from a single biased source that stretches a lot to make his points, and there is simply not enough Tether in the market nor is it concentrated enough to create a catastrophic problem or significant inflation for any USDT currency pair. Like many of you, I have heard the stories and posts about the fraudulent tether, I trade in this space on many exchanges and the growing concern is worrying, so I did my due diligence, and I would like to share it with the community. First and most importantly IMO, all this controversy stems from just one account/person. A person on twitter going by the handle @Bitfinexed - https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed Here you can see this person's writings - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/latest Spoofy, Tethers and institutional investors are what they contend to be the lies and fraud, AND that this entire rally in 2017 is based on fraudulent Tethers and spoofing, and that this will implode the markets. I feel this is also important… Turns out this person sold at $1000, maybe the real reason he is on this mission??… https://twitter.com/whalepool/status/896460700461277185 Now for some troubling info, the majority of this narrative (FUD??) here on Reddit in the last month come from just three accounts. https://www.reddit.com/useAtlasRand1/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/usecetusfund/submitted/ https://www.reddit.com/useAnythingForSuccess As you can see these accounts entire mission is to post constantly about this. They all show up on the other’s post to comment regularly. Btw, some people on the pro-finex side think this is a smear campaign from other exchanges. I don’t believe this to be the case. This person(s) only talk about TetheFinex, yet Tether is used and traded by the $millions daily on 3 of the top 5 exchanges, Finex, Bittrex, Polo, yet never a word about those other exchanges. (Check the USDT volume on other exchanges) https://coinmarketcap.com/assets/tethe#markets Therefore, if it is an exchange, it isn’t Trex/Polo because this would affect them as well. If it was an exchange other than Trex/Polo they would have plenty of fire power against 3 of the top 5 exchanges with Tether fraud. This leads me to believe it is most likely a sad person(s) with an ax to grind. They might have lost their $ on Finex to what they believe are spoofers/fraud and or they were part of the finex hack and sold there BFX too early. Btw I see contention that Bitfinex did NOT pay back the $ from the hack. They did, but some people are mad because they sold BFX early and didn’t recoup full $ amount from haircuts, but that was their decision. ~ POINTS OF CONTENTION SPOOFING This is what set my alarm bells off about these articles I read from Bitfinexed. Specifically spoofing… https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 and this nugget…“And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” from this article… https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-fraudulent-tethers-being-used-for-margin-lending-on-bitfinex-5de9dd80f330 Claiming spoofing shows this person has limited markets/trading knowledge. Clearly they haven’t watched an order book of any exchange in crypto, equities, or Forex. This is called scalping or scare walls. Again this is done in every market around the globe. Here is a professional FOREX trader talking about scalping, how it works, who/why they do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYMIPmgRb_M&list=WL&index=94 TL;DW - they do this to get the price where they want it because they know people are watching the order book (the video is quite enlightening), and the key point that keeps this from being an illegal activity (on regulated exchanges) is THAT THEY DO MAKE TRADES FOR THOSE SIZES eventually. This doesn’t always work and they get stuck in these positions. Risk/reward. The ironic part about this spoofing idea is Finex is one of the few, if not only exchanges, that offer hidden orders. So people trying to scalp always have to worry if there is a monster hidden order lurking. Go to the UPDATE: AUGUST 7TH of this story and watch the video he claims proves spoofing and Phil Potter admitting it in the voice over. https://hackernoon.com/meet-spoofy-how-a-single-entity-dominates-the-price-of-bitcoin-39c711d28eb4 I see nothing wrong with what Phil says and no proof of anything in the video. Again this is true on every exchange trading anything of volume in the world. People with large amounts of money move markets, oh the horror. I “technically” do this when I place an order and pull it for whatever reason (scared, mistake, etc.) just not in large sums, but I would if I had large sums. “And who the hell is going to go margin long so dramatically after a huge crash?” The crash they are referring to is from the early June ATH to the mid-July correction. A 45-day crash? Well, I am one of those people that went margin long. And many many others who read charts, resistance, support, retracement info. Again, this smacks of someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. REASON FOR PRICE RISE/BTC GOES UP WHEN TETHERS ARE CREATED This is absurd. This completely negates everything else, the Japanese currency ruling and them entering the market, Koreans coming into the market in a huge way (they now have the largest exchange by far with close to a Billion traded DAILY, oh and they don’t use Tether at all), the successful hard fork, or the more (positive!) interest from the media and people than ever before in BTC history. Instead, we are supposed to think that $395 million dollars of tethers are the reason for this rise in a $160+ Billion market cap.  C’mon people! Look at that volume for the last 30 days. https://imgur.com/a/vKJ5g Also, the overwhelming majority of trade does not exist in Tether but KRW, CNY, USD, JPY. Tethers are usually created when extra liquidity is needed, be it a crash or a spike. Because more people are trading. They try to prove Tether boosts the market with this picture in their article. https://imgur.com/a/274SE The problem is 2 of the last 3 tether dumps coincide with a downturn. In fact, there is nothing in this graph that proves this theory. Also, the last tether dump/price rise coincides perfectly with the news of the majority of miners signaling segwit2x for the first time (search bitcoin or btc around that date). So do you think the market traded billions of $ at that time because of a $50 million Tether dump or because for the first time in YEARS a solution and path forward became visible?? THEY DON’T HAVE BANKING//NO INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS/FAKE TETHERS-TERMS OF SERVICE In regards to banking, clearly they have some kind of banking and a way for large amounts of fiat to get in and out. The banking is not for you and me but for regional bitcoin exchanges and other large customers. You know how I know this? If they didn’t the internet would be flooded with Finex withdrawal issues, there would be a price premium on Bitfinex compared to other exchanges, just like Mt. Gox had for so long and also Bitfinex earlier in the year when the banking issues started. This article explains it very clearly (seriously read this article), it has nothing to do with this controversy, just the banking issue in April. https://medium.com/@Austerity_Sucks/why-bitfinex-went-from-a-premium-in-its-crypto-usd-pairs-to-now-a-significant-discount-e7be193d7cb0 TL;DR - All of the imbalances discussed (Finex premium) have been a result of USD frictions into Bitfinex. It has been a chain reaction resulting from the initial freeze to the various gradual withdrawal options. As soon as Bitfinex conclusively addresses the USD flow issues, the crypto pair prices will normalize (which they did) with other exchanges that don’t have banking frictions and USDT price will return to par (which it did). The premiums on Finex and Tether are what would prove something is wrong, yet they are not here. Surprisingly Finex has been at a discount to GDAX and GEMINI recently. Meaning people are willing to take a loss on prices to be able to lend on Finex. This too will normalize as people/bots arb. Aug 9th… From “arguably” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/895339675120013313 Aug 22nd…. To “admitting” bank fraud https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/900230917196836864 Listen to that audio in the second link, listen carefully. His explanation is perfectly reasonable. Banks don’t work well, consistently, or at all with crypto related companies (marijuana companies too for that matter) especially in jurisdictions that are outside US/Europe. Surprise surprise, this is nothing new. When they find out customers, deposits/wire are cryptos related they pull the plug (a reason why Trex/Polo don’t mess with USD). Also, they gave their customers a haircut, probably a lot of complaints about the hack to Wells Fargo and other banks. These are the correspondent's banks, not Finex’s, they have banking. This is how they can receive large institutional deposits and withdrawals. Which I bet make up the majority of the fiat deposits and withdrawals. Classic 80/20 business rule, 20% of your clients are providing 80% of the liquidity plus you are having banking issues (which is expected in crypto-land), so you cut this service to the 80% saving time/resources/headaches for the 20% loss in a single service to them (no fiat withdrawal/deposits- but crypto flows in and out with ease). Again if they weren’t able to get money in and out there would be a premium, there would be a long line of complaints online. I have no reason (or proof) to believe that money is NOT coming into/out of the exchange. It makes total sense too, they are the best lending platform, have one of the most liquid exchanges, and have by far the most reliable and best software/servers/UI/order options. You cannot deny this fact, they are constantly a top 3 exchange in volume, even after a hack. I use Finex (as well as others) because of all those things. Also, they have already been hacked, a second hack seems less likely (IMO, they have more to lose with another hack). They have many big events on the horizon (Ethfinex). Would a company be putting resources into these things if this is all fraud or an exit scam? I find that unlikely. Is this 100% full proof? Of course not, nothing is, especially in crypto, just my reasons for trading there. Institutional Investors - https://medium.com/@bitfinexed/are-legitimate-institutional-investors-really-coming-onto-bitfinex-s-platform-i-don-t-think-so-cb4ed5175092 Here is what this person doesn’t comprehend, what if these institutional investors are… you ready… here it comes… other exchanges that use Tether, as well as other crypto related businesses. It is only $395 million Tethers. These exchanges (Trex, Finex, Polo) are printing money. This isn’t “someone” with 100’s of millions of dollars as the article suggests, it’s many people with millions/thousands of dollars. Again this all ignores the fact that many more people have entered the ecosystem this year. This is proven by Coinbase growth, transaction growth, and exchange growth (both in volume and # of exchanges), and growth in crypto-related sub-Reddits. Yet Bitfinexed is shocked that lending hits ATH’s, but it is perfectly explainable and reasonable based on the evidence and data of gthe ecosystem. Let us not forget BTC is a finite amount, more people are going to increase demand/price, if you think this is a bubble... you haven’t seen anything yet. The TOS are sketchy and a point of concern but there are two things to keep in mind- It was necessary to word it that way, and the market clearly doesn’t care. If they had worded it that they will redeem no matter what, they would have money launderers flocking to the service (bogging down resources), plus law enforcement knocking. Tethers weren’t created to get $ in/out of crypto but to provide a safe haven and liquidity on exchanges that don’t use USD. And I would say they are working perfectly. Very few are withdrawing USDT for USD. I think it is precisely because of what the co-founder of tether refers to here (and below)… “If you want to convert USD₮ into fiat currency (or vice-versa) at tether.to, you must go through the whole “aggressive” KYC/AML process and get verified. I’ve heard from many who tried and were unable to provide sufficient documentation. Tether’s KYC/AML policies were written by experienced compliance officers and it’s critical that it be done properly and with diligence. It really is about “knowing your customer” and making sure that their uses are legitimate.” This is a perfectly reasonable explanation why people are not lining up to cash out of Tether, and also why large/reputable institutions can (exchanges, investors, etc.). TETHERS REPLY TO ALL THIS, PLUS UPCOMING AUDIT https://tether.to/tether-update/ Now ask yourself this, would a company that is operating fraudulently have a roadmap of all these new features that no one will ever use if they don’t provide these promised audits as they say they will by the end of the year? So as of now they have enough runway until the end of the year. I say we give TetheFinex the benefit of the doubt. While Tether could be operating fractionally (so to could any exchange in crypto btw), there is no proof or evidence of it today. It trades at normalized rates. You can’t just create 100’s of million of dollars without the marketing realizing somewhere. Sure, you can say this is a confidence game, but so is crypto, so is the USD, so is the concept of money. I see no reason to be more concerned with this risk than the already risky environment we trade in with exchanges. WHAT IF I”M WRONG? CRYPTO WILL IMPLODE! No it won’t. Sure there will be a dip maybe even a correction, but there are only 395 million Tethers. People will get out of Tether even at massive discounts (until $0) into crypto because they can’t get USD, but not more than the 395 million tethers circulating (at this time). At a certain discount people will understand what is going on and stop trading for Tether. BTC + ETH is worth over $100 billion, how many time does the entire amount of USDT have to turn over to cause a massive crash? What will get hit the hardest are the people left holding tether (if/when they implode) and Trex/Polo/Finex. To think Polo/Trex would rely so much on USDT that they didn’t fully vet it is absurd as well. Whats more likely, Polo/Trex’s due diligence or this @Bitfinexed person based on conjecture? I’ve already seen a Forbes contributor try and get ahold of Bitfinexed on twitter. https://twitter.com/laurashin/status/894437272241569792 Could I be wrong about all of this??? Of course, but, I feel I have provided more evidence than the other side. You are the Judge :) USEFUL INFO Some from u/udecker - Tether co-founder Tether.to is who has the backing for the token, not Bitfinex. Bitfinex is a customer of Tether. If Bitfinex wants more Tether, they make a request to Tether, just like all other Tether customers. Tether waits for USD to show up, and when it does, creates the necessary tethers and credits Bitfinex. They both have Tawainese banking so money can flow back and forth easily. (The banking industry in the country of Taiwan are under scrutiny lately because of larger legal issues not involving crypto, but clearly affecting crypto companies) https://wallet.tether.to/transparency Tether wasn’t designed to be a profit machine. It was designed to be a utility for the crypto community to provide a stable token (with all the benefits of this). Tether’s business model is this: 1. Generate fees from wire deposits and withdrawals and conversions. 2. Interest income on the reserve. Bitfinex’s parent company owns a 20% stake in Tether. People say Tether isn’t being burned. But they are being recycled which is/was always an option. I hope we can have a productive conversation around this without the usual Gox 2.0, sell it all, Bitfinex is the anti-christ comments with no substance. Give us your opinion and perspective because maybe I am missing something… but, maybe you are too. This was quite time consuming (just ask my kids and boss, lol) So if you found this info helpful you can donate if you’d like here, if not, no biggie smalls :) BTC - 14Wz4SCuKwa81UBh1U7mcaCTxMsYLLuGZK
*Minimum Initial Margin is 1%. This means the USDt0 collateral allocated to that position needs to be at least 1% of the USDt0 value of the position you wish to open. If you have 100 USDt0 in your derivative wallet, those 100 USDt0 can serve as collateral for opening positions up to 100:1. i.e. Margin positions with a USDt0 value up to 10,000 Margin trading. Bitfinex allows up to 5x leverage trading by providing traders with access to the peer-to-peer funding market. Order types. Bitfinex facilitates a graphical trading experience with advanced charting functionality that allows traders to visualise orders, positions and price alerts, tap to modify order properties, and annotate Margin Trading and Margin Funding Bitfinex allows users to trade with up to 3.3x leverage by taking advantage of funding from the peer to peer margin funding market. The best available funding rate is automatically sort for the position, or alternatively users can enter a funding order themselves to borrow the desired amount, at the specified Comprehensive trading options. Besides margin trading and funding, traders can take advantage of limit, market, stop, trailing stop, fill or kill, iceberg, OCO, hidden, and post-only limit orders. Security. Due to a few hacks in the past, Bitfinex takes extra precautions to secure its platform. Bitcoin margin trading, in simple words, allows opening a trading position with leverage, by borrowing funds from the exchange. For example, if we opened a Bitcoin margin position with a 2X leverage and Bitcoin had increased by 10%, then our position would have yielded 20% because of the 2X leverage.
How to trade with Margin/Leverage in Cryptocurrencies DCXmargin CoinDCX
Tutorial Part 6 Lets Learn Margin Trading Bitfinex Trading Crypto Long Shorting Leveraging - Duration: 1:09:05. Mr Brian 12,758 views. 1:09:05. Leverage Trading for Beginners ... Vamos a ver como sale esta posición en margen que estoy abriendo con 10 LINK de colateral en mi balance de Bitfinex. Posición en Long con 4.5 LINK. Recuerda ... Tutorial Part 6 Lets Learn Margin Trading Bitfinex Trading Crypto Long Shorting Leveraging - Duration: 1:09:05. Mr Brian 12,373 views. 1:09:05. Kostenlos abonnieren: https://goo.gl/12TEw6 In diesem Video zeige ich euch die Basics vom Bitfinex Margin und Exchange Trading. NÄCHSTER 30X ICO? Review Kryptowährungen https://youtu.be/mvsyl ... Tutorial Part 6 Lets Learn Margin Trading Bitfinex Trading Crypto Long Shorting Leveraging - Duration: 1:09:05. Mr Brian 14,438 views. 1:09:05. Cryptocurrency Portfolio Strategy ...
