Oh boy - I think this is going to be big... Tether on Bitfinex

[slacknation]

It looks like Tether is going to soon become operational on Bitfinex.  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tether-introduces-real-world-currency-160000085.html  This will allow people to use US$ and Euro as if it were cryptocurrency.  I've got a feeling this is going to be a first major Bitcoin2.0 type application.  Watch out!!!

I am concerned about the legality of it in different countries. Might be a lot of legal loops for them to jump through.

to get cash in and out, you will need to deposit/withdraw from tether's bank accounts, so the same KYC applies like withdrawing/despositing with bitfinex directly

[ronald98]

Has Tether paid the $million+ or whatever it costs for a US money transmitters licence?

[justusranvier]

Here: https://tether.to/faqs/

smells centralization... 

Nope.  Just administration of the guarantee (the backing).  Everything else is decentralized.  The token still trades without interference from a central authority.  But unlike bitcoin which has nothing backing it, Tether will have a pot of cash stashed away (with an administrator - hopefully trusted.)  The admin won't be able to manipulate the token.  The high level of auditing will assure the backing is well cared for.

Are you retarded? "Nope"? The Dollar is just as decentralized as you proclaim this to be. The primary thing distinguishing this apart from bitcoin is completely centralized and you are claiming it's not? How do you do these mental gymnastics?

It's just another Mastercoin P&D scheme.

[vach]

well i give it a tought and i think this adds nothing special to gov to worry about,
if they were about to prevent possibility of US or any fiat to be used without their watch they should stop bitcoin in the first place,
like what is forbidding me to buy some btc in A sell at B and have de facto my USD tranfered to the other end of the world...

this thing just makes sure you dont suffer any price change while you do the whole buy move sell thing...
i think i'll give it a shot

[Sitarow]

Tether will not be as big as you think it is.

Tether is 1:1 usd.

What that means is its price cannot be less or more than $1 USD.

You won't be able to make any money off of Tether. Obviously, they won't let you mine Tether coins either.
The insiders will make money from Tether by buying it for pennies on the dollar and selling those Tether coins back to you for $1.

Would not this just be an external service that sends transnational data over the bitcoin network to prove that the transaction did occur? They would simply assign % currency of choice to 1T however what coin would be the reserve coin for the value of T?

[vach]

btc and ripple those are only things worth looking at

[sdersdf3]

Here: https://tether.to/faqs/

smells centralization...  

Nope.  Just administration of the guarantee (the backing).  Everything else is decentralized.  The token still trades without interference from a central authority.  But unlike bitcoin which has nothing backing it, Tether will have a pot of cash stashed away (with an administrator - hopefully trusted....)

That's centralisation. Requires trusting a human(s). Admin runs away with the reserves and the tokens are worthless.
How is fiat reserve proof verified in a real-time, automated fashion in a way that isnt manipulatable? Humans can intervene with the reserve indicators, no?

[crazy_rabbit]

Here: https://tether.to/faqs/

smells centralization... 

Nope.  Just administration of the guarantee (the backing).  Everything else is decentralized.  The token still trades without interference from a central authority.  But unlike bitcoin which has nothing backing it, Tether will have a pot of cash stashed away (with an administrator - hopefully trusted....)

That's centralisation. Requires trusting a human(s). Admin runs away with the reserves and the tokens are worthless.
How is fiat reserve proof verified in a real-time, automated fashion in a way that isnt manipulatable? Humans can intervene with the reserve indicators, no?

Yeah but there's nothing wrong with it. If you trust them, they could be fine for whatever your business might be. As a business you always have a certain level of risk when dealing with other businesses, but at least you have legal recourse.

[udecker]

Here: https://tether.to/faqs/

smells centralization... 

Nope.  Just administration of the guarantee (the backing).  Everything else is decentralized.  The token still trades without interference from a central authority.  But unlike bitcoin which has nothing backing it, Tether will have a pot of cash stashed away (with an administrator - hopefully trusted....)

That's centralisation. Requires trusting a human(s). Admin runs away with the reserves and the tokens are worthless.
How is fiat reserve proof verified in a real-time, automated fashion in a way that isnt manipulatable? Humans can intervene with the reserve indicators, no?

Yeah but there's nothing wrong with it. If you trust them, they could be fine for whatever your business might be. As a business you always have a certain level of risk when dealing with other businesses, but at least you have legal recourse.

Obviously the trust required will be minimized as much as is possible.  What would the community think about “decentralized audits” of the bank accounts, using a method of cryptographic signatures coming from the banks/vaults involved that can be third-party verified?

Craig

[Bit_Happy]

This seems like the U.S. feds saying "send us your dollars and bank balances and well replace them with a coloured coin which we own all of." Except its not sanctioned by the fed so probably causes all kinds of legal exposure. How long until the exchange gets raided and the reserve $$ confiscated? And how is this any better than just using ripple? (shudder).

Tether sounds much worse than "Liberty Dollars", and that founder ended up in very serious legal trouble.

[udecker]

This seems like the U.S. feds saying "send us your dollars and bank balances and well replace them with a coloured coin which we own all of." Except its not sanctioned by the fed so probably causes all kinds of legal exposure. How long until the exchange gets raided and the reserve $$ confiscated? And how is this any better than just using ripple? (shudder).

Tether sounds much worse than "Liberty Dollars" are that founder ended up in very serious legal trouble.

That’s why you must follow legitimate KYC/AML procedures, and not allow unknown/untrusted persons to exchange fiat.

Craig

[superresistant]

 
Anyone tried the beta yet ?

[mmortal03]

How do you convert the actual fiat into tether? I checked out the website but still not clear on that.

Exactly. If I send bitcoins to Bitfinex and sell them for dollars, can I then convert them to Tether USD? What if I wire Bitfinex USD, can I convert that to Tether USD, or can I only buy the actual Tethers at Tether.io? To indirectly answer my own question, I did notice that you can buy Tether USD at Expresscoin.com, but you can only mail them checks or USPS money orders, so it isn't very efficient to go that route.

[mishax1]

Anyone tried the beta yet ?

I received a beta access code.

You can either wire transfer dollars(for now) and get Tether, or you can send Bitcoins and get Tether.

[mmortal03]

How do you convert the actual fiat into tether? I checked out the website but still not clear on that.

Exactly. If I send bitcoins to Bitfinex and sell them for dollars, can I then convert them to Tether USD? What if I wire Bitfinex USD, can I convert that to Tether USD, or can I only buy the actual Tethers at Tether.io? To indirectly answer my own question, I did notice that you can buy Tether USD at Expresscoin.com, but you can only mail them checks or USPS money orders, so it isn't very efficient to go that route.

Replying to my own post here. I contacted Tether, and they told me this:

if you have a KYC-approved account at Bitfinex, you should see “Tether” as a withdrawal/deposit option.  Using this, you can send BTC to Bitfinex, sell them for USD, and then withdraw them as Tether USD to any Bitcoin wallet that supports it (such as HolyTransaction, Omniwallet, etc).

I also assume that you could directly send Bitifinex your USD by wire and then do the same, as that doesn't seem like that would be any different from the dollars stored in your account there from selling bitcoins (but I don't have a SWIFT supporting bank here in the US to test this).

[favdesu]

what are the pros/cons of tether vs. BitShares BitUSD?

[tinky winky]

Are any other exchanges using it besides Bitfinex?

[justusranvier]

what are the pros/cons of tether vs. BitShares BitUSD?

One of them is fantasy football, and the other is an air guitar battle of the bands.

[mmortal03]

what are the pros/cons of tether vs. BitShares BitUSD?

Tether is on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Are any other exchanges using it besides Bitfinex?

Poloniex.

[birr]

I want to know how the nuts and bolts work.  Nobody ever talks about that.  It's all pie in the sky.
EXACTLY how does one handle tethers?

Bitfinex tether announcement says:
"Tethers can also be withdrawn and held in any Bitcoin wallet where you control the private key"
But on the withdrawal page it says:
"Please confirm that you are sending tethers to a Tether-enabled wallet. Tethers sent to a non-Tether compatible address may be non-retrievable by the recipient."

Where is the step-by-step instructions?

I went to tether.to and requested an invite.
Of course, I prefer not to use a web wallet like omniwallet, which is why I want to know how to transfer tethers to an ordinary bitcoin wallet under my control.