Bitfinex massive spread

[fabiorem]

The spread was caused by investors selling their tethers for bitcoins, which increases the price of bitcoin in Bitfinex.

A massive dump of tethers in the market cause the price of bitcoin to increase. The investigations over tether "legitimacy" would force investors to sell it, increasing bitcoin price.

[exstasie]

The investigations over tether "legitimacy" would force investors to sell it, increasing bitcoin price.

For how long though? I remember there was a Tether scare in mid-October last year where Bitfinex developed a big premium over the rest of the market like this, and the market pumped too. But it was very short-lived and we ended up crashing a few weeks later.

[e-coinomist]

Tether and Bitfinex are the ones in trouble. Maybe to some extent, all those exchanges relying on USDT liquidity. As for Bitcoin, it will just go along its natural correction and trapping more shorts.

I don't think the Tether/Bitfinex fiasco will affect the market much. There are other stablecoins to choose from.

Which one would make the race? Currently closely observing the Binance trade statistics, my assymption is that is the place where this race finishes.

Tether is done. They should do that pending audit eventually, now that their pants are allready down below knees.

[adaseb]

It looks like the spread is still widening for Bitfinex USD but the Tether spread has come all the way down to 1% or so.

Which is basically implying that people are worried about Bitfinex being insolvent BUT not tether.

There is crazy arbing also going on with the Short Bitfinex BTCUSD and Long Bitmex Perps due to the huge negative funding rates we had for the last few days.

So if all this boils over and they don't go insolvent, then its an easy 6-7% trade.

[Wind_FURY]

I feel that we will soon undergo a memorable correction in Bitcoin's history. I'm already preparing for it, I'm just hoping that the whole cryptocurrency market will be able to recover. Otherwise, I don't know what it will become for the future. No matter all the "great news" that comes after, it will be too late, damages are done.

Plus the market is currently over-leveraged with margin longs made by the plebs. The market is now in the hands, and at the mercy of the whalecumulators.

[1BTC EQUALS 1CAR]

Stop panicking guys, I think we are already safe from that and I feel that its effect is over. And besides, most of the capitulation happened last year so most of those weak hands should be gone by now. This won't hit us very hard this time because what is left are the real supporters and real long term holders so the impact of the FUD is just a mini damage.

[Bitcoinwaist]

why is the ny attorney general concerned with bitfinex? Usa citizens are banned and cant even open an account on that exchange So why should they even care?

[1Referee]

But we're in 2019 now and the things are totally different. The ecosystem is a lot bigger, its adoption too. Bitcoin is severely punished for each incident.  But a thing like Tether is like finding a security breach on the network that can't be fixed. People won't trust Bitcoin anymore, only the purists. All the topics like "Be ready to see a lot of bad news about BTC" and "Bitcoin as low as $1k this year" could become relevant lol.

Tether is just an aspect of this ecosystem that props up the price of all crypto currencies, that's all. If you take that away, we will definitely feel it, but these 'black swan' events are of temporary nature and an excellent buying opportunity.

If your 'people won't trust Bitcoin anymore' thought holds value, then people won't be trusting ANY top 10 crypto currency anymore, because Tether provides most of their buy support. Bitcoin is way stronger than you think man, and I am sure that when we no longer have iFinex to worry about, Bitcoin will be even stronger. I would pump 90% of my current savings in Bitcoin (right now Bitcoin already accounts for ~60% of my total worth) if we see the price reach $1000 lol.

I remember the CME CEO saying that there aren't enough Bitcoins, well, they will scoop up whatever is being dumped on the market and steer it back up.

[buwaytress]

I feel that we will soon undergo a memorable correction in Bitcoin's history. I'm already preparing for it, I'm just hoping that the whole cryptocurrency market will be able to recover. Otherwise, I don't know what it will become for the future. No matter all the "great news" that comes after, it will be too late, damages are done.

We always need some major event to set the pendulum swinging fiercely again, even if its eventual motion is always going to stay the same. I'm not sure Bitfinex is going to be on the same scale as Mt Gox though. They and Tether have had more than enough FUD between themselves to last a lifetime.

Price will -- and has -- continue to slide while they come to grips with this, regardless of what actually happened.

Am also prepared for another upheaval. 2019 was never meant to be spring I think. But don't worry. Better all this now than tomorrow.

More accumulation points to look forward to, so how can I complain?

[Reid]

It is happening!

As I thought, that freaking Tether will soon have a problem. They use it as an escape pod or even larger than that. Now, time for payback.
Other exchange may want to close withdrawals using USDT and also buying other coins using it. They will try to escape using any way possible.
KYC might really work for them now to protect themselves from being used as a way to get that money out.
They must be cornered until there will be nowhere to run.

No worries about bitcoin. If it is cheaper then there will always be a buyer. I am one!

[fabiorem]

For how long though? I remember there was a Tether scare in mid-October last year where Bitfinex developed a big premium over the rest of the market like this, and the market pumped too. But it was very short-lived and we ended up crashing a few weeks later.

Market crashed in November, two weeks after the miners in China turned off their machines. Probably the big mining companies had to dump bitcoin to cover their expenses, since mining difficulty was not decreased at that time.

Tether FUD is the most irrational FUD on the market. Some bears are mad because they lost the 3k train, but there is little difference between 3-5k if we compare it to between 5-20k.

[exstasie]

It looks like the spread is still widening for Bitfinex USD but the Tether spread has come all the way down to 1% or so.

Which is basically implying that people are worried about Bitfinex being insolvent BUT not tether.

It boggles my mind how people make this distinction. They're owned by the same company and have the same directors and they dip into each other's funds. Both companies have bank accounts that are very exposed to freezing or seizure risk. All the government agencies investigating them are investigating both of them, not just Bitfinex.

The only real difference is Bitfinex charges a 3% tax on high volume fiat withdrawals ($1MM+ in 30 days) and Tether only charges 1% for the same. That Bitfinex tax has sort of been baked into the price ever since they started charging it last year.

So if all this boils over and they don't go insolvent, then its an easy 6-7% trade.

There's a good chance this will boil over, but either company having bank accounts seized and going insolvent will definitely happen eventually. If not this time, then next time, or the time after that.

They've been playing a cat-and-mouse game with regulators for years and I'm amazed they're still here.

[LeGaulois]

Okay, I'm probably too pessimistic about this story. But I remain convinced that Bitfinex/Tether will damage Bitcoin and this over a very long period of time. The price will surely go again below $3,500 and it will stay there for I don't know how long. I said people won't trust BTC anymore but I was thinking about all cryptos. The whales have already done their shopping and so have I and that's not what we thought would happen.

[figmentofmyass]

Tether FUD is the most irrational FUD on the market. Some bears are mad because they lost the 3k train, but there is little difference between 3-5k if we compare it to between 5-20k.

hmm, irrational how? tether has literally come out and said they are insolvent. their liquid reserves are 26% short of actual customer deposits. those customer deposits were replaced by a big fat IOU from bitfinex: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-lawyer-confirms-stablecoin-74-percent-backed-by-cash-and-equivalents

i don't know when this whole situation will implode but when it finally does, it'll definitely be an excuse for a big crash/correction.

[Herbert2020]

I feel that we will soon undergo a memorable correction in Bitcoin's history. I'm already preparing for it, I'm just hoping that the whole cryptocurrency market will be able to recover. Otherwise, I don't know what it will become for the future. No matter all the "great news" that comes after, it will be too late, damages are done.

Plus the market is currently over-leveraged with margin longs made by the plebs. The market is now in the hands, and at the mercy of the whalecumulators.

but these "whalecumulators" can't keep up accumulating indefinitely! at some point they run out of money and would want to let the price go back up, not to mention that you can't really manipulate the market forever. the market retaliates against you. and that is why the recent rises occurred anyways.
so at this point i would say most of them are leaning towards a rise. there are always some who resist but they would be going against the market.

[adaseb]

The spread is still pretty massive for the Bitfinex BTCUSD pair compared to the cash markets. Basically it makes no sense what so ever to buy Bitcoin on Bitfinex because their price is pretty much right at the yearly highs.

So who is buying these overpriced coins? I am guessing its people who are panicking with all this fear of MtGox 2.0 happening again and they are paying a 6% premium to get their coins out. Who is selling these coins? I am guessing its a arbitrage which the whales do between shorting Bitfinex and Longing the Bitmex perps and receiving the nice funding from the bears.

[Naida_BR]

I thought that the corrective year was 2018, but with the recent incidents that happen in bitfinex lately I think that another huge bear market it is inevitable.
USDT is a bomb and it is ticking in bitfinex. I hope that less users are going to be affected from the negative effects, becuase this spread is not an opportunity but a huge danger.

[joshy23]

I thought that the corrective year was 2018, but with the recent incidents that happen in bitfinex lately I think that another huge bear market it is inevitable.
USDT is a bomb and it is ticking in bitfinex. I hope that less users are going to be affected from the negative effects, becuase this spread is not an opportunity but a huge danger.

That particular issue seems to alarmed investors and traders attentions, thinking of much safer trades is more important than taking the risk of getting some opportunities of arbitrage trades, it's needs to consider things that might affect your assets as issue still not been cleared yet.

[bustedsynx]

Well, well, well, look at this https://bitcoinwisdom.io/markets/bitfinex/ustusd

Tether back above $1. I feel like the recent drama is just fud. I'm sure a real whale exit would cause more harm than this.

[BitHodler]

What happened 8/2/17, when Bitfinex cold wallet went from 111k bitcoin to .5 bitcoin, then a day later went back to 111k bitcoin?!

Their trading volumes went down because whales left that exchange. Currently there is less than 90k BTC left in their main cold wallet, and this for such a 'large' exchange is very alarming.

The premium there indicates that there is a lot demand to sell USDT for BTC and withdraw directly after. It wouldn't surprise me if we see another 10-20k BTC being withdrawn from their main cold wallet this week.

Anyone still using that exchange is a retard--you're basically begging them to pull off a scam on you. The only thing this exchange should do is disappear from this ecosystem. Today rather than tomorrow.