
Bitcoin-Rigging Criminal Probe Focused on Tie to Tether - ucha
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-20/bitcoin-rigging-criminal-probe-is-said-to-focus-on-tie-to-tether
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habosa
So Tether seems to have been hanging out at about 0.97 lately ... isn't that a
massive problem? If anyone really believe they were worth 1.00 USD we'd be
vacuuming up those 3 pennies.

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Qworg
There could also be 3 pennies of friction in getting the money into or out of
Tether.

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discodave
I have a feeling that the friction is _very_ directional.

There are lots and lots of stories about individuals losing money in bitcoin
and tether, this is one way they do it.

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i_am_proteus
This doesn't seem like an inherent flaw in crypocurrencies as much as a
feature of an entirely unregulated secondary market (BTC to USD).

Obvious counterpoint: a viable secondary market is a necessary step to
adoption of a cryptocurrency.

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lucozade
It's a flaw in all current cryptocurrencies that they suffer from an opaque,
trust-based exchange infrastructure.

I'd argue that it's inherent in the sense that none of them factored that into
their model. As such, I'd argue that the models are inherently flawed because
a trustless core is fundamentally compromised if you only have a trustful
interface to the rest of the world.

To that end, I agree with your basic point: you need an interface to the
outside word that has similar properties to the core model. At least,
trustless, transparent, auditable. Probably anonymous as well.

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gibsons77
You've just described Bisq

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lucozade
> You've just described Bisq

Not really but they're clearly making an attempt in that direction.

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shittyadmin
As we've seen many times in the past, when the price falls, so do the scammers
- this will be interesting.

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Scoundreller
Agreed. It will be fun to see who has gone fractional.

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Havoc
Frankly I'm surprised Tether hasn't gone nuclear already.

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lawn
Tether is very much not a cryptocurrency. It's centrally controlled. They can
freeze transactions and mint new coins at will.

~~~
arcticbull
So is USDC and XRP right? And MIOTA. Where do you suggest we draw the line?
I’m curious what the general thinking is on this.

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lozaning
In a world where I get to unilaterally set the rules, the line would be when
one person or company is the only entity that can officially bless the
mechanism that is tasked with approving and verifying transactions. As far as
I know Ripple Inc, a for profit company, owns, runs, and controls all the
nodes that approve XRP transactions.

I dont really see how XRP is really any different than Paypal. If they can ban
me, stop me from sending my tokens to whoever I want, or reverse my
transaction I don't feel as though im getting any of crypto's benefits.

Not sure if thats general thinking, but it is at least mine.

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tastyfreeze
So much wrong information...

Ripple Inc only controlled all validating nodes until stable third party nodes
were established. Each node decides which other nodes to trust. There is a
default Unique Node List (trusted nodes) provided by Ripple. But, the UNL is
not a list of all validating nodes.

At this time Ripple only controls 39% of nodes on the default UNL. If Ripple
Inc turned to dust the XRP network would continue on.

[https://minivalist.cinn.app/](https://minivalist.cinn.app/)

No entity, not even Ripple Inc., can freeze XRP or prevent you from sending
it. Assets can be frozen by the issuing entity but XRP cannot ever be frozen.

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hummingurban
If DOJ can show evidence of cartels, terrorist cells, and other unsavory
entities laundering their money through bitcoin, ICOs, ethereum, altcoins and
tether, then anyone who has ever taken crypto to work on a project, anyone who
handled the influx of cash to exchange it for crypto by selling Tether (which
is all of the major exchanges), are headed for a storm of hurt.

We are no longer in SEC turf and DOJ has a conviction rate of 93% as of 2012,
a trend which has been increasing. It's one thing to argue against Howey Test
or hide money from the Taxman. _It 's a whole new level of shit storm to be
accused of laundering money for terrorists and drug cartels_.

[https://medium.com/@justsomeperson/uncovering-the-real-
carte...](https://medium.com/@justsomeperson/uncovering-the-real-cartel-in-
bitcoin-814427d00f54)

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craftyguy
Cartels, terrorist cells, and other unsavory entities also use cash, but you
don't see the DOJ prosecuting everyone who has accepted cash as payment.

~~~
calciphus
In fairness, if I set up a bank which, by accident or by design, made it
exceedingly easy to launder millions in cash relatively quickly, you can bet
the DOJ would have a problem with that.

Transporting millions in cash is risky (either you trust the courier with that
and risk their life, or you do it yourself and risk yours), and doing so
internationally is extremely challenging and/or expensive. By contrast, doing
it digitally is quite easy and fast.

It feels a bit disingenuous to insist the two are the same.

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stef25
HSBC cooperated with cartels to launder money, apparently they even opened
special counters for them to deposit cash at.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC_Mexico#Money_laundering](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC_Mexico#Money_laundering)

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adrr
Public companies tend not to get punished because it ultimately punishes the
shareholders. Chickenshit club book talks about all the reasons why the DOJ
doesn't go after the big public companies with criminal prosecution.

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chrisco255
Isn't this like, one year old news at this point?

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chrisco255
From January 30 of this year:
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/crypto-
ex...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/crypto-exchange-
bitfinex-tether-said-to-get-subpoenaed-by-cftc)

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rednerrus
If only someone had something about this a year ago...

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antocv
Hilarious, on the bubble chart "Why did the government let this happen", we
are now at this point "pls g-men step in and dont let this disaster happen"
and "put those responsible behind bars" etc.

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prolikewh0a
If this is true, will there have been any major rise of Bitcoin that hasn't
been caused by illegal & unethical manipulation? Serious question.

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bdcravens
Do you think a market that is easily manipulated would ever not be?

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coding123
I'm almost certain it is being manipulated, so glad an actual investigation is
happening. Many people have been duped into crypto.

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bdcravens
I think crypto is very manipulated, but people aren't being duped because of
that manipulation. (aside from a few situations like Paycoin where the
"founder" Josh Garza promised a price floor; he has been since prosecuted)

Losses in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and ICOs are the result of individuals
hyping each other up and smoking hopium. Opportunities have to at least pass a
smell test before you can claim you've been "duped".

