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☆ Messaging app Telegram to allow Tether stablecoin payments
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Stablecoin Tether and Circle's USDC dominate the market. Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty ImagesTelegram users can now start making stablecoin USDT payments to each other through the encrypted messaging service's linked blockchain. It is integrated with the Telegram app. After this, users will be able to purchase USDT and send money to other users by selecting Tether's token as a payment option. The move could help make Tether's USDT coin more mainstream.

Persons: Justin Tallis, USDT Organizations: Afp, Getty, Open, U.S .

☆ Ripple to launch U.S. dollar stablecoin, taking on a $150 billion market dominated by Tether, Circle
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesCrypto startup Ripple is the latest major player to jump into the $150 billion stablecoin market with the launch of a digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar. The move would pit Ripple against stablecoin giants like Tether, which is behind the largest stablecoin UDST, and USDC issuer Circle. Payments giant PayPal , meanwhile, launched its own U.S. dollar stablecoin called PayPal USD, a stablecoin backed by U.S. dollars and dollar equivalents that is issued by crypto firm Paxos. watch nowTether is the market leader for stablecoins with a market capitalization of $106.3 billion, according to CoinGecko data. "In fact, the number one request we get from the XRP community is to launch a USD-backed stablecoin on the XRP Ledger."

Persons: Jakub Porzycki, Brad Garlinghouse, he's, Garlinghouse, Tether's, USDT, USDC, MoneyGram Organizations: U.S, SEC, Nurphoto, Getty, U.S ., PayPal, CNBC, Bank, FinCEN, Santander, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Southern, of Locations: U.S, Europe, Asia, New York, Ireland, Singapore, of New York

Six people listed on Israel's previous Tron seizure notices who responded to Reuters questions denied connections to militant groups. Iran has previously used Tron to skirt U.S. sanctions. 'BLINDSPOT'Since its 2008 birth, the Bitcoin blockchain, and since then crypto more widely, have been magnets for criminals drawn by liquidity and a reputation for anonymity. In 2021, the first year NBCTF published seizure notices, it froze 30 Bitcoin wallets. No Bitcoin wallets appear in notices in the subsequent years.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mriganka Pattnaik, Merkle, Hayward Wong, Tron, Wong, Israel, NBCTF, Weeks, Justin Sun, Sun, Binbin Deng, Shlomit Wagman, VanEck, Wagman, Tom Wilson, Elizabeth Howcroft, Nidal al, Gebeily, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: REUTERS, Hezbollah, Reuters, Israel's, Bureau for, British Virgin Islands, Dubai Co, Israel, Hamas, Islamic, West Bank, Tron, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Sun, Force, Harvard University, Authority, Militant, Thomson Locations: Iran, Israel, United States, New York, Britain, Singapore, Gaza, British Virgin, Jihad, Dubai, Venezuela, Jenin, Tehran, Paris, U.S, London, Beirut

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency issuer Tether has frozen 32 crypto wallet addresses containing a combined $873,118 it said were linked to "terrorism and warfare" in Israel and Ukraine, the company said on Monday. Israeli police said last week they had frozen crypto accounts used to solicit donations for Hamas on social media. Tether said that it is committed to "working closely" with law enforcement agencies globally "to combat cryptocurrency-funded terrorism and warfare." Crypto has been widely used in Ukraine since Russia's invasion last year, with Kyiv raising over $100 million in crypto after appealing for donations. Pro-Russian groups have used crypto for funding in eastern Ukraine, blockchain researcher Chainalysis said last year.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Crypto, Chainalysis, TRM, Elizabeth Howcroft, Tom Wilson, Mark Potter, Rod Nickel Organizations: REUTERS, TRM Labs, Israel's National Bureau for, Reuters, bitcoin, Thomson Locations: Israel, Ukraine, Hamas, U.S

☆ Tether freezes 32 crypto wallets holding $873,118 linked to terrorism and warfare in Israel, Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The world's biggest stablecoin, tether, saw more than $10 billion in redemptions in May, fueling fears of a 2008-style "bank run." Tether froze 32 virtual wallets linked to crypto-funded terrorism and warfare in Israel and Ukraine, according to a media release published Monday. Tether, which issues the world's largest stablecoin of the same name, says it has been collaborating with the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing of Israel in its efforts. "Tether remains committed to promoting responsible blockchain technology use and standing as a robust defense against cybercrime," continued Ardoino. "We eagerly anticipate continued collaboration with global law enforcement agencies as part of our commitment to global security and financial integrity."

Persons: Paolo Ardoino Organizations: National Bureau for, Israel, Tether's U.S, cybercrime Locations: redemptions, Israel, Ukraine

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Crypto firm Tether's Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino will also become its CEO from December 2023, the company said on Friday, in a surprise management shake-up for one of the crypto world's top tokens. Current CEO, Jean-Louis van der Velde, will "transition to an advisory role for Tether", the company said in a statement. Tether issues a stablecoin, also called Tether, which is designed to maintain a 1:1 dollar peg and is widely used in crypto-to-crypto trading. Little is known about van der Velde, who keeps a low public profile. Ardoino became chief technology officer of Tether in 2017, the company said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Paolo Ardoino, Jean, Louis van der Velde, van der Velde, Ardoino, Elizabeth Howcroft, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Tether's, Twitter, Thomson

☆ Stablecoin Tether promotes tech chief to CEO, taking over from mysterious crypto leader
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer for Tether, has been promoted to CEO of the stablecoin company, in a surprise move. In a press release Friday, Tether said that Ardoino will lead Tether from December 2023, succeeding van der Velde. Ardoino will still serve as Tether's chief technology officer while taking on his additional duties as CEO, Tether said. He joined Tether as chief technology officer in 2017. The departure of van der Velde, an executive who has barely ever appeared in public, comes as Tether has faced scrutiny over transparency.

Persons: Paolo Ardoino, Ardoino, Jean, Louis van der Velde, van der Velde, Van der Velde, Bitfinex, Tether's van der Velde Organizations: U.S . Locations: Hong Kong

☆ Singapore among world's first to agree stablecoin crypto regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Singapore's financial regulator on Tuesday said it had finalized rules for a type of digital currency called stablecoin, putting it among the first jurisdictions globally to do so. Stablecoins are a type of digital currency designed to hold a constant value against a fiat currency. The stablecoin market is valued at around $125 billion, with two tokens — Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC — dominating roughly 90% of the market cap value. The Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) framework spells out some key requirements:Reserves that back stabelcoins must be held in low-risk and highly-liquid assets. These rules will apply to stablecoins that are issued in Singapore and mimic the value of the Singapore dollar, or of any G10 currency, such as the U.S. dollar.

Persons: — Organizations: Monetary Authority, Singapore's, Singapore, U.S . Locations: Singapore

☆ The stablecoin market has shrunk this year while bitcoin has rallied — What investors should know
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Bitcoin is up more than 75% this year, but the market capitalization for stablecoins has dwindled during the same period. "This is unusual as often the market capitalization of stablecoin increases during rallies and decreases during downturns, matching the trend of the overall crypto market," JPMorgan analyst Steven Alexopoulos said in a note Thursday. "An explanation for the decline of the stablecoin market may be due to investors preferring the higher returns of bitcoin and Ethereum or even traditional assets (benefiting from a rise in interest rates)." In July, it hit an all-time high of $83.8 billion and now accounts for 68.5% of the overall stablecoin market. Tether's prominence Instead of focusing on declines in USDC, investors could point to Tether's growth as evidence of stablecoin inflows, for example.

Persons: Bitcoin, Steven Alexopoulos, bitcoin, USDC, Steven Lubka, Swan, David Wells, Coinbase, Lubka, Michael Bloom Organizations: U.S ., JPMorgan, Drivers, Bank, U.S, Services, Enclave Markets, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission Locations: New York, Silicon, SVB, U.S, USDC

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency which aim to keep a constant value and are usually backed by traditional assets such as dollars. Tether's reserves report, signed off by accountants BDO Italia, says Tether's assets rose to $86.5 billion in the three months to June 30, 2023, up 5.7% from the previous quarter and a record high, according to previous reports on its website. Tether is a key cog in global digital asset trading, with many crypto-to-crypto trades denominated in the stablecoin. U.S. regulators have warned banks that stablecoin reserves could be subject to rapid outflows, for example if holders rushed to exchange such tokens back into traditional currency. Tether's holdings of U.S. Treasury Bills hit $55.8 billion, up 5.2% from the end of March, while non-U.S. Treasury Bills rose to $62.9 million, up more than 30% from the previous quarter, the report said.

Persons: Elizabeth Howcroft, Christina Fincher Organizations: BDO Italia, Treasury Bills, U.S . Treasury Bills, New York Attorney, Thomson Locations: . U.S, U.S

☆ Bitcoin drops below $25,000, Tether's stablecoin falls under its dollar peg
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Standard Chartered predicts that bitcoin could fall to $5,000 in 2023 as part of their research on potential market surprises next year. Cryptocurrency prices fell after the Federal Reserve's June meeting, with bitcoin falling below $25,000 for the first time since March. On Thursday, bitcoin was lower by around 4% at $24,866.92, according to Coin Metrics, while ether fell more than 5% to $1,632.47. And selling pressure weighed on Tether (USDT), which lost its peg to the U.S. dollar on most exchanges Thursday, falling to 99 cents in its biggest drop since November. "Given how thin trading volumes are at the moment, a sizable (but not massive) sell order is enough to set off liquidations."

Persons: bitcoin, Altcoins, Polygon's, Cardano's, Stocks, Michael Safai Organizations: Chartered, Federal, Metrics, U.S, Federal Reserve

☆ Stablecoin giant Tether to mine bitcoin in Uruguay using renewable energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Cryptocurrency giant Tether is setting up a bitcoin mining operation in Uruguay using renewable energy, as the company looks to diversify the revenue mix to support its USDT stablecoin. The company said Tuesday that it plans to invest its resources into renewable energy production, marking its first foray into the energy sector. Tether is also on the hunt for "experts in the area" to support its expansion into the renewable energy space, it said. "By harnessing the power of Bitcoin and Uruguay's renewable energy capabilities, Tether is leading the way in sustainable and responsible Bitcoin mining," said Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether. "Our unwavering commitment to renewable energy ensures that every Bitcoin we mine leaves a minimal ecological footprint while upholding the security and integrity of the Bitcoin network."

☆ Bitcoin gets vote of confidence as a long-term store of value as Tether says it will buy more of the crypto to back its stablecoin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jason Ma | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bitcoin got a vote of confidence as a long-term store of value with Tether's new investment strategy. The issuer of the USDT stablecoin will allocate up to 15% of its net realized operating profits to buying bitcoin. Last week, Tether revealed that it held $1.5 billion of bitcoin in its reserves at the end of March. "Bitcoin has continually proven its resilience and has emerged as a long-term store of value with substantial growth potential," said Tether Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino in a statement. Last week, Tether posted a first-quarter "attestation" that revealed it held $1.5 billion of bitcoin in its reserves at the end of March as well as $3.4 billion of gold.

☆ Tether buys $222 million worth of bitcoin to back its USDT stablecoin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Cryptocurrency giant Tether on Wednesday said that it's going to purchase hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of bitcoin to back the world's largest stablecoin. The company said it would invest 15% of its net profit into bitcoin to "diversify" the reserves that back its USDT token, which aims to stick to a 1-to-1 peg to the U.S. dollar. That would amount to roughly $222 million, based on the company's last attestation report, which provides a breakdown of the assets that make up its USDT reserves. Tether began revealing it was making gains from its USDT operation in February, declaring a net profit of $1.48 billion in March and taking its total excess USDT reserves to $2.44 billion. USDT is the largest stablecoin in the market, with a circulating supply of more than $82.8 billion, according to CoinGecko data.

☆ Stablecoin Tether's reserves hit $81.8 billion in Q1 - reserves report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - Stablecoin Tether's reserves were worth $81.8 billion at the end of the first quarter, according to a reserves attestation on Wednesday, up around $14.8 billion from the previous quarter. Tether's reserves include $53 billion of U.S. treasuries, the report said, up from $39.2 billion at the end of 2022. They also include $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and $5.3 billion worth of loans which the report said are "over-collateralized". A repo, short for repurchase agreement, refers to when financial institutions use U.S. Treasuries and other high-quality securities as collateral to raise cash, often overnight. Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft and Hannah Lang; Editing by Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

May 9 (Reuters) - Digital stablecoin tether is winning the race for the title of the crypto world's "least risky" asset. Tether is already the top performer among stablecoins -- digital tokens pegged to some fiat asset like the dollar -- and has seen its market value soar since March. Buying tether and bitcoin is really a vote against the U.S. system," says Jensen. On CoinMarketCap's database of 23,891 tokens, tether has risen to number 3 with a market cap of $82 bln and a share of 6.83%. NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWSTo be sure, tether has long been dogged by doubts about its peg being backed by dollar reserves.

☆ Crypto stablecoins might need limits to avoid disruptions to financial stability, warns Bank of England
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Regulators may need to introduce limits on the use of stablecoins in payments to prevent potential threats to financial stability, an official at the Bank of England warned Monday. Stablecoins are cryptocurrency tokens that aim to mirror the value of traditional assets such as fiat currencies. Such assets could include deposits at the Bank of England "or very highly liquid securities," he added. The Bank of England said in February that it was "likely" Britain would need a central bank digital currency if current trends around the decline in cash use continue. The Bank of England, Treasury and industry are still debating concerns over how such currencies would be implemented, such as the privacy of people transacting with them and implications for financial stability.

☆ Crypto firm Tether says it has around $1.6 billion in excess reserves to back its USDT stablecoin
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Cryptocurrency firm Tether estimates it will make $700 million profit in the March quarter, taking its total excess reserves to over $1 billion, the company's technology chief told CNBC, revealing the latest figures for the first time. Tether issues the USDT stablecoin, which is pegged one to one with the U.S. dollar. Tether then revealed in February that it made $700 million in profit in the December quarter. Paolo Ardoino, Tether's chief technology officer, said the company estimates that the excess reserves will increase by $700 million in the current quarter, which is not yet over. That would take Tether's excess reserves to $1.66 billion.

☆ What the failures of Signature, SVB and Silvergate mean for the crypto sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In this article BTC.CM= Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTA man entering Signature Bank in New York City on March 12, 2023. ReutersA lot of crypto's problems in the last year originated in the stablecoin sector, beginning with TerraUSD's collapse last May. Now that it is clear that SVB depositors will be made whole, Carter tells CNBC that he expects USDC to trade at par. The Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) and Signature's Signet were real-time payment platforms that crypto customers considered core offerings. Meanwhile, Circle has already publicly said that it is shifting is assets to BNY Mellon now that Signature bank is closing.

☆ Binance boss says Sam Bankman-Fried's trading firm tried to undermine key token Tether — risking a crypto rout
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Binance boss Changpeng Zhao accused Sam Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research of trying to drive down the price of Tether, according to the New York Times. The stablecoin’s collapse would likely trigger a crypto crash, analysts have warned. US federal prosecutors are already investigating Bankman-Fried for manipulating the price of both of those cryptocurrencies, the New York Times reported Wednesday. Having reached $1 again in July, Tether slipped away to fall to $0.9963 on November 10 as FTX's bankruptcy sent ripples through the crypto sector. Analysts have repeatedly warned that the stablecoin's collapse would cause a wider crypto crash — and argued that Tether poses a systemic risk to the crypto sector.

Genesis is owned by Stamford, Connecticut-based venture capital company Digital Currency Group. The contagion concerns stem from Genesis' prominence in crypto, its links to troubled firms and broader reach into the financial world. "It's a signal of worse outcomes" for the crypto market, particularly since Genesis also deals with brokers, family offices and money managers. Last year, Genesis extended $130.6 billion in crypto loans and traded $116.5 billion in assets, according to its website. Crypto.com, an exchange, and Tether, which operates the world's largest stablecoin, on said Wednesday they had no exposure to Genesis.

He is seeking the remainder from other funds, including current investors in FTX such as venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, the source added. Tether's chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, tweeted that it had "no plans to invest in or lend assets to FTX." FTX also got hit by the Bahamas Securities Commission, where the company is based, freezing assets of FTX Digital Markets "and related parties". In a tweet, FTX said it had reached a deal with Tron to establish a special facility that would allow clients to swap some crypto assets from FTX to external wallets. Bankman-Fried told investors that Alameda owes FTX about $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

He is seeking the remainder from other funds, including current investors in FTX such as venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, the source added. Bankman-Fried told investors that Alameda owes FTX about $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. FTX had lent more than half of its customer funds to Alameda, the newspaper said. The U.S. securities regulator is investigating FTX.com's handling of customer funds and crypto-lending activities, according to a source with knowledge of the inquiry. Canada's Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Tiger Global and Japan's Softbank are also FTX investors.

But for the past few months, bitcoin's price has bounced stubbornly around $20,000 in a sign that volatility in the market has settled. Large crypto investors with highly leveraged bets like Three Arrows Capital were floored by the pressure on prices, further accelerating the market's drop. Mastercard announced a service that allows banks to offer crypto trading, having previously launched a new blockchain security tool for card issuers. In a note released Thursday, analysts at the bank said there were parallels with bitcoin's trading in Nov. 2018, when prices steadied for a while before rising steadily. Publicly-traded bitcoin miners sold 12,000 bitcoins in June and only around 3,000 in September, according to Goldman Sachs.

The world's biggest stablecoin, tether, saw more than $10 billion in redemptions in May, fueling fears of a 2008-style "bank run." Tether, the world's largest stablecoin, has slashed back its commercial paper holdings to zero, replacing them with U.S. Treasury bills instead, according to a blog post. There are now about 68.4 billion tether tokens in circulation, according to data from CoinMarketCap, up from 2 billion three years ago. But well before UST's dramatic implosion, Tether — the company behind the stablecoin of the same name — was facing serious regulatory backlash over its reserves. Critics have also raised fears that tether tokens were used to manipulate bitcoin prices, a claim Tether has repeatedly denied.

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