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Podcast: ‘Target Letter, Tether’ (Amy Castor and David Gerard)
I did a podcast for “When the Music Stops” with fellow crypto skeptic David Gerard, where we discuss the Justice Department’s criminal probe into Tether. You can also listen to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.David and I talk about what the DoJ probe means, why they may have leaked t...
The DOJ’s criminal probe into Tether — What we know
Early this morning,Bloomberg reportedthat Tether executives are under a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice.The DOJ doesn’t normally discuss ongoing investigations with the media. However, three unnamed sources leaked the info to Bloomberg. The investigation is focused on Tether...
News: Regulators zero in on stablecoins, El Salvador’s colón-dollar, Tether printer remains paused
MyPatreonaccount saw seven new subscribers this month, so far. Thank you! Your support is a big deal. It helps me keep doing what I’m doing.If you like my writing enough to buy me a cup of coffee now and then, you can sponsor this blog for $5 a month — or $20, $50, or $100 a month, if you want t...
Binance: Italy, Lithuania, Hong Kong, all issue warnings; Brazil director quits
Ever since Germany’s BaFin and the UK’s FCA issued warnings against Binance, the dominoes have continued to topple. Global regulators are fed up with the world’s biggest crypto exchange.This last week, three more jurisdictions issued warnings about Binance’s tokenized stocks, joiningseveral ...
Binance: Fiat off-ramps keep closing, reports of frozen funds, what happened to Catherine Coley?
Last thing I remember,I was running for the door.I had to find the passage backTo the place I was before.“Relax,” said the night man,“We are programmed to receive.You can check out any time you like,But you can never leave.”~EaglesBinance customers are becoming trapped inside of Binance — ...
What’s backing Circle’s 25B USDC? We may never know
Jeremy Allaire is taking his Boston-based company Circle public via a SPAC. Circle is best known for its stablecoin USDC, which now has a market cap of $25.5 billion.In all his press interviews talking up the future potential of stablecoins — “Circle sits at the center of the next major transfor...
Reggie Fowler, man at the center of Tether’s missing funds, ready for trial
It looks like Reginald Fowler, the man tied to hundreds of millions of dollars of missing Tether and Bitfinex money, has ditched plans for renegotiating a plea deal. Instead, he is planning to head to trial.In aletterfiled with the New York Southern District Court on July 7 on behalf of both parties...
News: Tether printer on hold, China’s crypto crackdown, the world hates Binance, El Salvador’s Chivo wallet
In case you missedmy tweet,I ended up sick at the end of June. I was chatting with a friend over Zoom when he noticed that I was tilting over in my chair. Was I drunk? No. Should he call an ambulance? I’m fine.I ended up in the ER the next day on IV fluids and hooked to monitors. Turns out I hadAn...
RSA Conference goes full blockchain, for a moment
RSA Conference,arguably the world’s largest gathering of computer security experts, surprised everyone Saturday night when it suggested replacing the entire internet with — a blockchain.“The Internet has a serious fundamental flaw: the transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) ...
Binance: A crypto exchange running out of places to hide
Binance, the world’s largest dark crypto slush fund, is struggling to find corners of the world that will tolerate its lax anti-money laundering policies and flagrant disregard for securities laws.On Thursday, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authorityissued a statementthat Binance, the Binance Group a...
Michael Peterson, El Salvador, and Bitcoin Beach
On June 8, El Salvador passed a law to make bitcoin legal tender, alongside the dollar. Salvadorans were blindsided by the decision. Overnight, their president, Nayib Bukele, had turned into a bitcoiner, even adopting thebitcoin laser eyesin his Twitter profile — he andmembers of his cabinet, too....
NFTs and money laundering, the perfect storm
In June, I wrotea story for Artnet(paywalled) describing how NFTs create new opportunities for bad guys to move money without attribution. Read the full story if you can. Otherwise, here are some of the points I touch on along with additional notes. The physical art world has a money-laundering prob...
Rehost: A day in the life of Stuart Hoegner, General Counsel for Tether
One of my favorite Tether skeptics, Trolly McTrollface, had to take down a parody post about Stuart Hoegner today.Trolly received an email from his hosting service this morning warning him that he had committed some kind of copyright infringement. (It’s not clear that he did, but Trolly doesn’t ...
News: Tether—now 3% backed, Binance under investigation, Bitfinex shareholder charged, fickle Elon Musk
I’ve been inconsistent with my newsletters lately because I’m struggling to write this dang NFT book. It is slow going, and I keep falling down these rabbit holes. I feel like if I don’t hurry, the entire crypto market will collapse and NFTs will become a distant memory. Nevertheless, next wee...
Tether’s first breakdown of reserves consists of two silly pie charts
Tether, the world’s most popular stablecoin issuer, releaseda breakdownof the composition of its reserves backing tethers on May 13.The breakdown is no surprise to Tether followers: Two lame pie charts showing, at best, only a fraction of assets are in cash, and the rest are in risky assets.Specif...
News: Tether surpasses 50B, Coinbase lists USDT, reported $2B crypto scam in Turkey
Bitcoin is sitting at around $54,000, and Tether has hit a new milestone:50 billion tethersin circulation, something it’squite proud of.“Will we reach $100B before 2022?”So far, in April, Tether has issued 9 billion tethers—and the month isn’t even over yet. Tether has been minting2 billio...
Coinbase lists tether, the world’s dodgiest stablecoin
Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., justannouncedit is listing tether (USDT), the world’s dodgiest stablecoin.Tethers, for the uninitiated, are a stand-in for real dollars, used mainly on offshore crypto exchanges that can’t get proper banking. Now tethers can be found on Coinbase...
News: Coinbase Q1 earnings, Signal integrates MobileCoin, GBTC premium in the toilet, Reggie Fowler’s new lawyer
Bitcoin rose above$60,000 again.It only took 6 billion tethers to make that happen sincethe last time it hit $60,000in March—less than a month ago. We now have44.5 billion tethersin circulation.Coinbase set to debut on NasdaqEverything looks rosy for Coinbase’s debut on Nasdaq on April 14. The c...
Signal adopts MobileCoin, a crypto project linked to its own creator Moxie Marlinspike
Many technologists today were disappointed to learn that Signal, an encrypted messaging service, is adopting MobileCoin (MOB), a new cryptocurrency that wentlive in December,for payments.Signal is hugely popular in the tech world. I use it, and many of the people I correspond with use it as a safe a...
News: I’m writing a book, people are minting NFTs for the lulz, Chuck Tingle calls NFTs a ‘scoundrel plot’
I’m working on a book on NFTs and how they became the tulip mania of crypto. As of now, the plan is to self-publish on Amazon, hopefully before the bubble explodes likethis dead whale.I’ve finished the outline—which I’ll continue to update in coming weeks—and I’m playing with ideas for a...
BitClout’s social media experiment is one bad idea on top of another
BitClout, a social-media-on-the-blockchain project, is selling a type of token (called “creator coins”) tied to influential Twitter accounts—without account holders’ permission.And folks are getting understandably pissed off.At first, I thought these creator coins were NFTish due to their ar...
News: Metakovan unmasks himself, FATF goes after DeFi and NFTs, Coinbase pays CFTC $6.5M over wash trades
I’ve been traveling the U.S., visiting friends on the East and West Coasts and in between, and this is my first newsletter in a few weeks.This week has been a busy one, full of interviews and talking to reporters about nonfungible tokens. Who knew NFTs would become this big? I’ve gained nearly a...
WTF is an NFT?
NFTs are all over the news lately.Recently, I was having drinks with a friend, who knows zip about crypto, and out of the blue, she started asking me about “non-fungible tokens.”The next day, a musician friend posted an amateurish drawing of a guitar on Facebook, proudly announcing, “This will...
Metakovan, the mystery Beeple art buyer, and his NFT/DeFi scheme
Last week, a crypto whale going by the moniker “Metakovan” bought a Beeple artwork via Christie’s auction for $69 million—$60 million in ETH and $9 million in fees—outbidding a surprised Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain, in the last minute.After the barest amount of digging, I am...
Another QuadrigaCX documentary in the works
Dear Patrons,I just wanted to drop a note and thank you all for your kind support— and share some news.I’ll be in another film!I’m filming for another QuadrigaCX documentary on Saturday.I can’t tell you much more until an official announcement about the film comes out, but I’ll try and pos...
NYAG to crypto companies: ‘Play by the rules or we will shut you down’
The New York attorney general issued a stern warning to crypto companies and crypto investors on Monday. Crypto firms doing business in the state must play by the rules or face consequences, she said. And to investors, she underscored the hazards of dabbling in the crypto markets.The two-part warnin...
News: NY gives Tether the boot, Tether leaks, Coinbase financials, MoneyGram dumps Ripple
February is coming to an end. I’m waiting to get vaccinated, so I can travel without worry again. Maybe I’ll go to some crypto conferences later this year? I still havefond memoriesof Coindesk’s Consensus in May 2018—when you could hear the rumble of lambos coming through midtown Manhattan...
NY AG/Tether, Bitfinex settlement reveals commingling of funds, years of shenanigans
I wrote aquick articlethis morning about the New York attorney general settlement, wherein Bitfinex and Tether agreed to pay $18.5 million in penalties, stop servicing New York customers, and submit quarterly transparency reports.But there are more details to highlight. Namely, thesettlement agreeme...
Tether, Bitfinex to pay $18.5M to NYAG, cease trading in NY
Bitfinex and Tether have settled with the office of the New York attorney general in an investigation that began two years ago.The sister companies will pay $18.5 million in penalties to the state for violations of the Martin Act, according to astatementissued by the NY attorney general. Per the ter...
News: MicroStrategy needs more cowbell, Tether surpasses $34B, those laser eyes, Tether collapse doomsday scenario
I nearly ventured to Austin Wednesday, but my flight was canceled due to the storm, havoc, and general disaster in the area. I found another flight later in the day and was headed out the door, when I thought, nah. Turned out to be a good decision, since I probably wouldn’t have survived more than...
