[2021-01-20] Janet Yellen suggests 'curtailing' cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin

[bbc.reporter]

@Sithara007. I reckon for the legitimate companies that issued stablecoins with the proper licenses per state in America, it will be hard without an order from the courts. For Tether, it might occur anytime. They are not regulated and do not have the proper licenses.



Tether isn’t regulated by FinCEN. Rather, it is registered with FinCEN. These two R words are quite different. When an institution is registered with FinCEN, this means FinCEN has provided it with an electronic account for uploading suspicious transaction reports (SARs) and $10,000 cash transaction reports (CTRs). As per FinCEN requirements, a registered entity must also implement measures for collecting and verifying the identity of customers.

While it is commendable that Tether has chosen to register itself with FinCEN, collect customer information and regularly file SARs, there’s nothing special about this status.

PayPal, which I mentioned above, is regulated as a money services business in over 50 different U.S. states. Circle and Coinbase, which together issue the second-largest stablecoin, USD coin, have are licensed multiple state financial services departments.

Source https://www.coindesk.com/what-tether-means-when-it-says-its-regulated

[Betwrong]

~But Tether's market cap is 23 times smaller that that of BTC. ~

I don't think Bitcoin's MC and Tether's MC have the same dynamics.

Many bitcoins are either lost or haven't moved in the last 5-7+ years which means there are way less bitcoins in circulation than people think and that would mean bitcoin's actual marketcap is actually smaller than it looks and therefore it would also mean that bitcoin would get affected by the collapse of tether more than people think.~

Let's use an estimation made by Chainalysis, instead of saying "many".

Of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin, around 20 percent — currently worth around $140 billion — appear to be in lost or otherwise stranded wallets, according to the cryptocurrency data firm Chainalysis.

If we subtracted those 20% from the current Bitcoin MC

636,382,757,275 - (636,382,757,275 : 5) = 509,106,205,820

we would still get a MC that 19 times higher than Tether's.

Now, I'm not absolutely sure about the possible effect of exchanging all USDT for BTC, but I don't think the effect can be big.

[mindrust]

~

You missed the other part of my post however. What about the trading volume that belongs to tether by 70%? Since you like to see the source of information here it is:

https://coingape.com/tether-dominates-exchange-trading-with-70-of-the-volume/

What do you think will happen when tether goes down and crypto lose its trading volume by 70%?

Not going to affect it much y right i bet it wont.

[bbc.reporter]

@Betwrong, @mindtrust. I am reading through your posts. I might be mistaken, however, it appears that you are contradicting yourselves.

Similar, to some premined altcoins, 78% of the bitcoin in circulation has become illiquid. They are only held in wallets as speculative investments waiting to be sold at higher prices. There are presently only 4.2 million coins that are traded daily.

It will not take that much to pump the price to $100k or dump this to $10k.

Also, on Tether if taken down, bitcoin might pump in the beginning, however, will everyone really want to sell their bitcoins for worthless, taken down USDT? There will be a liquidity shock. All bitcoins might not have enough buyers for the sellers.

[mindrust]

@Betwrong, @mindtrust. I am reading through your posts. I might be mistaken, however, it appears that you are contradicting yourselves.

Similar, to some premined altcoins, 78% of the bitcoin in circulation has become illiquid. They are only held in wallets as speculative investments waiting to be sold at higher prices. There are presently only 4.2 million coins that are traded daily.

Where did I contradict myself? Saying that tether going down would harm bitcoin and also pump it at the same time? Do you think pumping bitcoin gox style is actually helping bitcoin? No.

It will not take that much to pump the price to $100k or dump this to $10k.

Agreed. Gox took the price from 2 digits to 3 digits. The markets were much smaller back in the day that's right but the trades were actually happening against the real dollar. (we learned later on there was no dollars -or bitcoins- huh) Right now, the amount of Dollars (tethers) they have is infinite. (again, they actually don't) Which means they can pump (or dump) crypto to anywhere they want.

Also, on Tether if taken down, bitcoin might pump in the beginning

Yep.

however, will everyone really want to sell their bitcoins for worthless, taken down USDT? There will be a liquidity shock. All bitcoins might not have enough buyers for the sellers.

When it starts happening, people won't know that tether is dying. They'll think it is just another pump and dump and free money. Did people give a fuck about it when gox was raising the prices? NO.

Everybody was happy af seeing BTC going from $50 to $1200. (and unhappy after $1200 > $120) The prices were rising huge and some people were making money because somebody else was losing money! (Gox people)

Same story. Of course everybody in this space thinks that it is not them who'll be the next victim... till they are.

[bbc.reporter]

@mindrust. No, I agree with much of your arguments. We might agree on many things about tether, I reckon hehe. Go to my big short thread in the speculation subforum. I tried arguing every speculation of what might occur based on facts, however, some people call it FUD. I am shaking my head, why?

[mindrust]

@mindrust. No, I agree with much of your arguments. We might agree on many things about tether, I reckon hehe. Go to my big short thread in the speculation subforum. I tried arguing every speculation of what might occur based on facts, however, some people call it FUD. I am shaking my head, why?

Most people you see around either sitting on too many bitcoins than what they should be hodling or they after a quick hit and run thinking they can time the markets. It is natural for you to get those responses from those people they are only defending their positions. You can safely ignore their thoughts.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Tether is a scam and it is becoming a bigger scam every day.

[Betwrong]

@mindrust. No, I agree with much of your arguments. We might agree on many things about tether, I reckon hehe. Go to my big short thread in the speculation subforum. I tried arguing every speculation of what might occur based on facts, however, some people call it FUD. I am shaking my head, why?

Most people you see around either sitting on too many bitcoins than what they should be hodling or they after a quick hit and run thinking they can time the markets. It is natural for you to get those responses from those people they are only defending their positions. You can safely ignore their thoughts.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Tether is a scam and it is becoming a bigger scam every day.

Finally I see something I can absolutely agree with. The fact that Tether is taking 70% of trading volume doesn't add the value to USDT. Tether's "value" is solely based on the trust of people using it that those billions of USDT are backed by billions of real USD, and the most important fact in this story is that Tether’s reserves have never been fully audited by an independent 3rd party.

Imo, it can collapse any moment, and if that happened, crypto market would quickly adjust to a new reality: people who love stable coins so much, would switch to other stable coins, and the smartest would switch back to good old Bitcoin pairs.

[bbc.reporter]

Where were the 2 of you when I needed to be defended from being accused of creating FUD on tether hehehe. It also appears some of those people who are on the side of tether are telling me that tether is shady, however, its takedown will not start another bear market. How can this be? It might begin a complete government crackdown on everything in the cryptospace.

[bryant.coleman]

Finally I see something I can absolutely agree with. The fact that Tether is taking 70% of trading volume doesn't add the value to USDT. Tether's "value" is solely based on the trust of people using it that those billions of USDT are backed by billions of real USD, and the most important fact in this story is that Tether’s reserves have never been fully audited by an independent 3rd party.

Imo, it can collapse any moment, and if that happened, crypto market would quickly adjust to a new reality: people who love stable coins so much, would switch to other stable coins, and the smartest would switch back to good old Bitcoin pairs.

Tether can collapse at any moment. But for that to happen, two factors need to overlap. From what I have heard, Tether foundation is using a lot of their reserve funds to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The first factor would be triggered, if their assets return a loss for them. IMO, that is not going to happen anytime soon as the bull run is not yet finished. The second factor is related to the demand-supply equilibrium. Right now they are able to maintain the market cap at around $27 billion, because there is huge demand out there in the market. But if there is a market crash or legal action targeting USDT, then users will attempt to redeem USDT for USD. Under such circumstances, the foundation will find itself cash strapped.

[mindrust]

Where were the 2 of you when I needed to be defended from being accused of creating FUD on tether hehehe. It also appears some of those people who are on the side of tether are telling me that tether is shady, however, its takedown will not start another bear market. How can this be? It might begin a complete government crackdown on everything in the cryptospace.

If you really believe in yourself and what you see, you don't need the others approval bruh.   Good thoughts don't need that kind of shit.

You don't even need to warn people. Let the mania go free.

Also the article you shared in your topic, (crypto-anon 2021) I was seeing its link a lot lately but never bothered to read till today. I mean what else it could tell me that I didn't know already? and I was right, Even though I didn't catch anything wrong in that article and it  is pretty much saying what most anti-tether people saying for months or years.

Nearly all trading volume of crypto is coming from tether. Nobody is trading their US dollars (or Euros or Pounds etc) for crypto. (I have been telling this a lot lately way before that article)

There is especially one thing I liked in that article however, it is that it says every time you sell your tethers for real FIAT and withdraw, you force Tether Corp to print more Tethers.

Many months ago I said something similar. I can't probably find the exact post now but I said something like this:

"What if the growing tether MC numbers isn't the amount that people buy from Finex/Tether.Corp but it is the amount Finex owes? to keep bitcoin afloat at these price levels?"

In other words that $26B MC could very well mean Bitfinex's debt to every crypto holder. Every time a new minted millionaire sells his crypto for real FIAT, they go more into debt and this will go on and on, (till it is not) I couldn't believe my eyes when the tether's MC became $9B for the first time and now it is $26B. Yeah I bet many people think it will go on forever.

What is even more worrying is when the tether goes down and burns millions of people and their life savings, there won't be a return from that. It won't be like gox. They won't let crypto be like it used to be. Maybe that's their real intention. The give the max damage to those who refuse the Gov's authority by letting Tether become a monster ponzi. I don't know all that.

[bbc.reporter]

@mindrust. I also presented that idea. It is very possible that exchanges are given USDT as loans to be paid later. This also implies that what is presently backing the cryptospace market is debt.

[Argoo]

Officials are accustomed to acting in an administrative manner. Janet Yellen seems to believe that the growing acceptance of cryptocurrency by people around the world can be offset simply by an administrative order, such as an order to "cut" bitcoin. Apparently, it is very far from understanding what a cryptocurrency is. I would like to see how it will "reduce" the cryptocurrency in practice.

[bustabitsboy]

It would definitely be nice to have control over bitcoins, but this is a super-known cryptocurrency that is not only difficult to control, but also to keep track of it, because more and more new users, companies, etc. are beginning to use bitcoin.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Most people you see around either sitting on too many bitcoins than what they should be hodling or they after a quick hit and run thinking they can time the markets. It is natural for you to get those responses from those people they are only defending their positions. You can safely ignore their thoughts.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Tether is a scam and it is becoming a bigger scam every day.

Have to agree with this post. Also, the Tether market cap seems to be increasing with every passing day. I understand that Tether foundation has loaned out huge number of USDT tokens to various exchanges, but when the Bitcoin prices are going up at such a steady pace, I would have expected the Tether market cap to decline (people would be converting more of their stablecoins to cryptocurrencies). But the USDT market cap seems to be moving only in one direction. How this can happen?

[mindrust]

Most people you see around either sitting on too many bitcoins than what they should be hodling or they after a quick hit and run thinking they can time the markets. It is natural for you to get those responses from those people they are only defending their positions. You can safely ignore their thoughts.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Tether is a scam and it is becoming a bigger scam every day.

Have to agree with this post. Also, the Tether market cap seems to be increasing with every passing day. I understand that Tether foundation has loaned out huge number of USDT tokens to various exchanges, but when the Bitcoin prices are going up at such a steady pace, I would have expected the Tether market cap to decline (people would be converting more of their stablecoins to cryptocurrencies). But the USDT market cap seems to be moving only in one direction. How this can happen?

My guess is, they are letting Tether growing because whoever allowing this scam are also scammers themselves. See the FED and their trillion after trillion money printing. The FED prints to support the stock prices, BitFinex prints to support crypto. There is no difference. One scammer won't squeeze the neck of the other fellow scammer.

[bbc.reporter]

@mindrust. It might also because the government cannot create a serious case to implicate and takedown tether. Bitfinex might have hired the best lawyers.

In any case, I might have determined the real reason why Janet Yellen wants to curtain bitcoin and other cryptocoins hehehehe. The bitcoin sign guy caused this!

[mindrust]

@mindrust. It might also because the government cannot create a serious case to implicate and takedown tether. Bitfinex might have hired the best lawyers.

In any case, I might have determined the real reason why Janet Yellen wants to curtain bitcoin and other cryptocoins hehehehe. The bitcoin sign guy caused this!

[img https://i.ibb.co/ft5Q7ZD/F85-BDDF6-F8-E7-4-CD2-B882-FD82-D1231885.png[/img]

I still cannot decide if the government really like crypto or not tbh. I was thinking about the same stuff 5 years ago still not much changed. Crypto very well could be a government trap. Do you know who satoshi is? Nobody does.

It is human nature to be afraid of what is unknown and i am afraid of crypto.

They say crypto is going to replace physical FIAT and everything will be digital. Who the fck would believe that is a good thing? Physical FIAT is a security feature.

edit: Again, many people here think that they are acting against the Central banks by supporting crypto. (just like the dude in the picture you posted) What if they are actually helping them without knowing? That's a good possibility imo.

[acquafredda]

@mindrust. It might also because the government cannot create a serious case to implicate and takedown tether. Bitfinex might have hired the best lawyers.

In any case, I might have determined the real reason why Janet Yellen wants to curtain bitcoin and other cryptocoins hehehehe. The bitcoin sign guy caused this!

[img https://i.ibb.co/ft5Q7ZD/F85-BDDF6-F8-E7-4-CD2-B882-FD82-D1231885.png[/img]

I still cannot decide if the government really like crypto or not tbh. I was thinking about the same stuff 5 years ago still not much changed. Crypto very well could be a government trap. Do you know who satoshi is? Nobody does.

It is human nature to be afraid of what is unknown and i am afraid of crypto.

They say crypto is going to replace physical FIAT and everything will be digital. Who the fck would believe that is a good thing? Physical FIAT is a security feature.

edit: Again, many people here think that they are acting against the Central banks by supporting crypto. (just like the dude in the picture you posted) What if they are actually helping them without knowing? That's a good possibility imo.

If really crypto was a government trap we would have to admit that it was the best trap ever engineered by the government. Thinking of how it all started if there are some agencies behind it, I would be so amused.
We have no certainty but I can't really see the government involved in this. It would have too subtle for them.

[BobLawblaw]

Physical FIAT is a security feature.

Have fun staying poor.