Some news were published the last days, that could have a huge impact onto crypto currencies:
- there was published a "tether report" (http://www.tetherreport.com/) claiming, that:
"
- it is highly unlikely that Tether is growing through any organic business process, rather that they are printing in response to market conditions.
- Tether printing moves the market appreciably; 48.8% of BTC’s price rise in the period studied occurred in the two-hour periods following the arrival of 91 different Tether grants to the Bitfinex wallet.
- Bitfinex withdrawal/deposit statistics are unusual and would give rise to further scrutiny in a typical accounting environment.
- If there is questionable activity, the author believes a 30-80% reduction in BTC price could be forecast.
"
Several coin news pages picked this up and investigated further. In between there can be found news like this (29/01/18 - https://globalcoinreport.com/heres-tether-usdt-situation-might-actually-discount-bitcoin-btc-opportunity/):
"Concerns are spreading that Tether isn’t backed up as the company behind it suggests it is and, in turn, fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) reports are hitting press, with some highlighting the potential for a market crash of up to 80% in the value of bitcoin. Any 80% crash would no doubt translate to a considerable amount of collateral damage in the wider cryptocurrency space meaning that this potential event is far from limited in its impact to those holding bitcoin."
Today (30/01/18), it even became a topic in the more main stream media (http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/investing/without-this-scam-bitcoin-price-would-collapse-fears-grow-over-tether-printing-press-as-auditors-part-ways/news-story/308503ab61f82d320e92847a0b59a23b):
"‘Without this bitcoin price would collapse’: Fears grow over tether ‘printing press’ as auditors part ways
BITCOIN’S price could crash by up to 80 per cent if this scheme unravels, experts have warned. And the signs aren’t looking good."
Latest news (as of writing) are, that now even the the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating at Bitfinex, the company behind Tether. (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/crypto-exchange-bitfinex-tether-said-to-get-subpoenaed-by-cftc)
This must not mean much, but those informations spreading in the larger main stream media will likely cause some market reactions, which will likely not be good in the short term. As it is also very likely, that this story will get huge in the media, as now official US. autorities are involved.
If it then turns out, that the accusations are correct, it will even have bigger impact onto bitcoin - and the whole crypto market.
What do you think of this?