With over $ 500 million in inflows of Tether & # 39; s USDT tokens in the crypto market this month, Tether is in the top ten cryptocurrencies with a circulating market capitalization of $ 2.7 billion.
Tether Hogs The Limelight, Once Again
August has been a critical month so far, with the valuations of cryptocurrency declining by 20-25% since the beginning of the month. In addition, the cryptocurrency market reached its low of 2018 when the total market capitalization for the first time fell below 200 billion dollars this year.
However, the controversial cryptocurrency Tether (USDT), known for its role in Bitcoin 00 price manipulation in the past is again in the news. Data from Omni Explorer shows that more than 500 million USDT tokens were made in August alone, all with the Bitfinex exchange.
Because every USDT token is tied to the US dollar in a ratio of 1: 1, almost half a billion USD has entered the crypto market. Despite the alleged involvement of Tether in crypto-market manipulation earlier, it seems that the stablecoin did not reverse the bearish market sentiment this time.
Tether, however, has risen in the ranks and is now among the top ten cryptocurrencies per market capitalization. The official Tether website shows that up to now $ 2.8 billion USDT tokens have been issued.
Tether & # 39; s controversial past
The Tether issue first came into the limelight when the Commodities Futures Trading Commission of the United States requested a cryptocurrency exchange for its alleged involvement with Tether to manipulate Bitcoin prices. Furthermore, the split of Tether with the audit firm Friedman LLP in January caused further investigation in this matter.
The problem escalated further this year in June, when researchers from the University of Texas presented a study that claimed direct price manipulation since November last year. The start of the cryptocurrency would have pumped the Bitcoin price by issuing USDT tokens that were not actually supported with physical USD.
However, the cryptocurrency exchange has denied all allegations that state:
Neither Bitfinex nor Tether has ever been involved in any form of market or price manipulation. Tether issues can not be used to support the price of bitcoin or any other currency / token on Bitfinex.
To free up all costs, Tether Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan LLP (FSS) asked for an independent and fair check on the bank accounts of the company. It also asked FSS to arbitrarily inspect Tether's USD reserves, as well as the USDT tokens in circulation. After proper auditing in this way, FSS issued a statement stating:
FSS is convinced that Tether's unencumbered assets will exceed the balance of fully-backed USD Tethers in circulation as of June 1, 2018.
Tether's involvement with Altcoins
In addition to his involvement in Bitcoin price manipulation, Tether is also involved in an attempt to shift the prices of other smaller altcoins, says crypto-research bureau Chainalysis. A research report from Chainalysis claimed that Tether was 85% linked to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin during the crypto bull run last year.
However, with the fall of the crypto market earlier this year, Tether appeared to be more associated with EOS and NEO tokens between January and June. The report stated:
While the transaction activity on the chain was in decline for the main cryptocurrencies, traders still saw opportunities for profit with some of the newer, smaller cryptocurrencies.
Tether is a popular stablecoin used by several other crypto trading platforms such as Huobi, Binance, Poloniex, Bittrex, OKex and Kraken.
What do you think of Tether's alleged involvement in crypto-market manipulation? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Ilkley Gazette, Bitcoinist archives.
Half-a-Billion Tether Tokens Infused Post In August, Yet No Signs from Crypto Market Pump appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
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