Is Tether a Fraud? Its Bank Says It's Not - Ep.161

Gregory Pepin, deputy CEO of Deltec Bank and Trust, responds to allegations in a blog post by the pseudonymous Crypto Anonymous, that Tether is a "highly probably fraud." In this episode, he covers:

how Deltec accounts for its reserves, and why they didn't show up on Crypto Anonymous's blog post

where the dollars backing Tethers are held

how Tethers get created

where Tether Ltd. keeps its cash equivalents

why there's more demand for trading with USDT than with USD partially because of the arbitrage opportunity between East and West 

how Tethers get created using Deltec

why USDT gets minted in very round numbers as opposed to very specific numbers that USDC is minted in

where the cash equivalents backing Tethers are held

what type of due diligence Deltec conducted when it took on Tether Ltd. as a customer

why the perception that Tether is unregulated compared to other stablecoins is false

what Deltec thinks about the New York Attorney General office's investigation in to Tether

why Deltec has a "large position in bitcoin"

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Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

Episode links:

Gregory Pepin: https://twitter.com/dzrgreg

Deltec Bank: https://www.deltecbank.com/?locale=en

Crypto Anonymous’s Medium post: https://crypto-anonymous-2021.medium.com/the-bit-short-inside-cryptos-doomsday-machine-f8dcf78a64d3

Deltec having large position in bitcoin: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/91353/deltec-bitcoin-position-tether

Original video in which Deltec mentions its “large position in bitcoin”: https://www.deltecbank.com/2021/01/14/a-covid-year-in-review/

Deltec banking Tether: https://www.coindesk.com/deltec-chairman-says-tether-letter-on-bank-relationship-is-authentic

Tether not audited: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-review-claims-crypto-asset-fully-backed-theres-catch

Tether says it is fully backed: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-says-its-stablecoin-is-fully-backed-again

Tether current balances: https://wallet.tether.to/transparency?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=c035d054dd287020b16d6dbb4b70398ca7a99dcb-1611253376-0-AcOsT0Zqpd8Muzw5gnkSz6KKmTrN3WAssxGX8K-p_PkeZ2SUfW9EsAr-a2EkIojYzm5-3RA_1DHxpoK579d0YgtnxMYevlVRSS7RIAKh0sgk-ORzOZUDNgg_AvZjugdrxWVjTA9dCBf1hX4X83oU3-RTjQYn_qYukdRFJUq9a89BXyyDovL3bu4ohxSSVdworOR-cdxEiPURe4ZJrGIvuW3Ej2qJLJt3RDXfX6BfDANdpkVrU6O2KB4V0Or-HJjItS0uAu-L7KrTomXNv9anUv34_An8cH3VHYfB_OD-iyIvkgOh7RHd-Xafe-SJwPnUYg

What Tether is backed by: https://wallet.tether.to/transparency?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=c035d054dd287020b16d6dbb4b70398ca7a99dcb-1611253376-0-AcOsT0Zqpd8Muzw5gnkSz6KKmTrN3WAssxGX8K-p_PkeZ2SUfW9EsAr-a2EkIojYzm5-3RA_1DHxpoK579d0YgtnxMYevlVRSS7RIAKh0sgk-ORzOZUDNgg_AvZjugdrxWVjTA9dCBf1hX4X83oU3-RTjQYn_qYukdRFJUq9a89BXyyDovL3bu4ohxSSVdworOR-cdxEiPURe4ZJrGIvuW3Ej2qJLJt3RDXfX6BfDANdpkVrU6O2KB4V0Or-HJjItS0uAu-L7KrTomXNv9anUv34_An8cH3VHYfB_OD-iyIvkgOh7RHd-Xafe-SJwPnUYg

New York Attorney General’s office press release on investigation into iFinex: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/attorney-general-james-announces-court-order-against-crypto-currency-company

CoinDesk on NYAG investigation: https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-ny-prosecutors-tether-850-million-allege

Link to the Crypto News Recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/what-8-trillion-could-do-in-bitcoin/