Tether is Bitcoin’s new savior. The crypto world’s biggest stablecoin plans to increase bitcoin holdings in its reserves by investing 15% of its future profits into bitcoin. According to its latest attestation report, Tether had $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin on its books. The firm said it will use “realized profits”, or profits accruing to… Read More Notes 3/17: Bitcoin in Tether’s Reserves
Blame it on multiple open tabs. Or on a lizard brain. In the post on Tether’s reserves day before yesterday, I forgot to mention the most important risk facing the stablecoin: a debt default. Unlike past years, the prospect of a debt default by the US government is a very real threat this year. Both… Read More How Does A Debt Default Affect Stablecoins?
Controversial stablecoin Tether released its latest reserves report for the first quarter yesterday. As usual, there are many red flags. The stablecoin has released an attestation and not an audit, meaning the accounting firm responsible for verifying Tether’s reserves only checked the state of its finances at a particular moment in time. What’s more, their… Read More Tether Releases Attestation Report
Bitcoin price remains poised before the $30,000 mark, a key resistance level according to analysts, over the weekend. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands for $29,624.72, up by 1.5% from its price a day earlier. In the past week, it has rallied by 6.3% based on data from CoinGecko. Explanations for the… Read More Notes 4/30: Bitcoin Price, USDC Peg
Stablecoin issuer Circle made news at crypto shindig Consensus last week by announcing a Cross Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to ensure “seamless liquidity” of their token USDC. In simple words, this means that the CCTP will enable USDC holders to move the token between different blockchains. According to the company, the CCTP is currently functional… Read More Notes 4/29: Circle Cross Chain Transfer Protocol
Privately issued currencies used for daily transactions are a long-held goal for libertarian crypto enthusiasts distrustful of fiat money issued by government. Stablecoins, or coins that can be exchanged at par for fiat, are the best bet to carry forward the crypto torch of payments that is not beholden to government diktat. But two legislations,… Read More Notes 4/22: Stablecoin Regulation
Stablecoin USDC lived to see another day after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last month. But traders are still not sold on the Circle coin. According to statistics from DefiLlama, an analytics site that tracks decentralized finance (DeFi) markets, the number of liquidation positions against USDC stands at $259 million. USDC is a vital… Read More Notes 4/9: USDC Liquidations
Just how illiquid is crypto? The latest quarterly report from Kaiko Research sheds some light on the answer. TrueUSD pair had just 2 BTC worth of liquidity in early March. That compared with 400 BTC worth of liquidity for Binance’s stablecoin BUSD and between 1,000 to 1,500 for Tether’s USDT, the world’s biggest stablecoin that… Read More Notes 4/8: TUSD Illiquidity, Banning Crypto
Stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD) claims that it generates a real time attestation report for its reserves on its website. That’s an impressive achievement. But TUSD is an unregulated stablecoin in the United States. That means the checks and balances that are standard for regulated entities here are absent for the stablecoin. The report, which is a… Read More Notes 4/4: TUSD Attestation Reports
Bitcoin price continued its gravity-defying trajectory today, rising by 5.2% in the last 24 hours, to $28,457.20, as of this writing. According to CoinDesk data, the cryptocurrency is up by 72% so far this year. This past quarter marked its biggest quarterly gain in the last two years, the publication noted. Bitcoin’s latest price trajectory… Read More Notes 3/29: Bitcoin Price and TUSD
What does the CFTC’s case against Binance mean for crypto’s future? Binance is the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. It is also home to the biggest trading volumes for bitcoin and ether, the world’s two biggest cryptocurrencies. But the announcement of a lawsuit against the company by the CFTC yesterday hardly dented bitcoin… Read More Notes 3/28: CFTC Lawsuit Against Binance, Staking Withdrawals, and Tron and Tether
Bitcoin price continues to course a path upwards for the second day, briefly moving past $26,000 before reversing its trajectory. As of this writing, it is changing hands for $25,989.38, up roughly 7.5% from yesterday. Analysts and news reports have pointed out that the jump in its price coincides with the release of favorable inflation… Read More Notes 3/14: Bitcoin Price, USDC Depegging Winners
Circle’s USDC may have survived a crisis over the weekend after regulators stepped in to bail out Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) depositors, but it is not out of the woods yet. The stablecoin, which is extensively used in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, faces a fresh existential threat this week. A hacker made off with… Read More Notes 3/13: USDC’s Peg Is Still Wobbly, Bitcoin Price
The price of Circle’s stablecoin USDC, which had lost its peg over the weekend amidst fears over its reserves, is inching its way back to $1. As of this writing, it is changing hands for $0.98, according to data from CoinGecko. On Friday, amidst drama surrounding the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), it had… Read More Notes 3/12: USDC Peg
USDC, the crypto world’s second biggest stablecoin, has lost its peg due to exposure to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the bank that liquidated yesterday. The stablecoin’s peg with Tether’s USDT, another dollar-backed stablecoin, fell to as low as 0.86 at cryptocurrency exchange Kraken before recovering. As of this writing, it is still askew at $0.92.… Read More Notes 3/11: Circle’s USDC Loses Peg
The murky waters of cryptocurrencies consist of many worthless tokens. The Gemini dollar (GUSD), a stablecoin issued by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, is one of them. The token serves no purpose in crypto or outside its ecosystem. It claims to be “regulated from day one” to alleviate user concerns about a run on its holdings. But… Read More Why Does GUSD Exist?
Binance’s stablecoin BUSD’s loss is Tether’s gain. According to Reuters, the biggest stablecoin by market capitalization has seen its share of the overall stablecoin market rise to 52.6% from 51% earlier. The USD Coin is also a beneficiary of BUSD’s fall. The Circle-issued token witnessed a 0.4% increase in its market share to 31.3% after… Read More Notes 2/21: Reordering the Stablecoin Market
There’s been considerable handwringing over regulatory action and its negative effect on cryptocurrencies in recent days. One place where that effect seems less pronounced is bitcoin price. While the crypto community erupted in protest against the SEC’s regulatory actions towards Kraken’s staking service and Binance’s stablecoin BUSD, bitcoin price seemed to take it into its… Read More Notes 2/15: Stablecoin Market Capitalizations and Legislation
BUSD is the world’s third biggest stablecoin and is used extensively at Binance – the world’s third biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. Perhaps it is a testimony to crypto’s heft (or grift) that even action by the world’s most powerful regulatory agency could not de-peg the stablecoin. According to research firm Nansen, $2.7 billion… Read More Notes 2/14: BUSD Damage
Following its settlement with Kraken on Friday, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped another bombshell last night. According to a WSJ report, the agency has served a Wells Notice to Paxos Trust Ltd., issuer of Binance’s stablecoin BUSD. A Wells Notice is an informational notice that is sent before the agency commences litigation. In this… Read More Notes 2/13: BUSD In Trouble
The mystery of Tether’s finances is slowly being unraveled. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) yesterday published a report claiming that the stablecoin is using investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald to help manage its $39 billion treasury bond portfolio. The firm is a primary dealer in the Treasury Market, a designation that enables it to conduct direct… Read More Notes 2/12: Tether Finances, Tornado Cash Revisited