Deltec Chairman Says Tether Letter on Bank Relationship Is 'Authentic' - CoinDesk
"The chairman of Deltec Bank & Trust says a widely scrutinized letter about stablecoin issuer Tether's account at the Bahamas-based institution is "authentic.""
‘World’s Most Bulletproof Crypto’: Company to Create a Coin Backed by Swiss Franc
A Swiss company, Alprockz AG, has developed the cryptocurrency ROCKZ, and says it is the first coin paired to one of the most stable fiat currencies in the world — the Swiss Franc (CHF). According to the company, it has already partnered with Geneva Swiss Bank - GSbanque.
PwC Is Advising (Not Auditing) Another Stablecoin Project - CoinDesk
The Hong Kong division of global accounting and consulting firm PwC is exploring the best practices for issuing stablecoins, as part of an initiative with the non-profit Loopring Foundation. Announced Tuesday, PwC Hong Kong's Asia-focused study on stablecoins follows a PwC partnership in the U.S. to advise decentralized lending platform Cred, which is working on a U.S. dollar-tied coin.
Brazil: Tether's New Banking Partner Deltec Suspected of Accepting Laundered Funds
"Brazilian law enforcement has solicited the help of Bahamian authorities to investigate suspicious transactions to Deltec Bank & Trust – the recently-announced new banking partner of controversial stablecoin Tether (USDT) – major Brazilian newspaper O Globo reports Nov. 6. "
Carbon's Stablecoin Can Now Be Swapped Between EOS and Ethereum Blockchains - CoinDesk
"The U.S. dollar-pegged crypto token CarbonUSD has just launched as the first stablecoin on the EOS platform. The token's developer, Carbon, announced the news in a press release Friday, adding that it believes making the token interoperable across "key" blockchain networks will provide "most value for the crypto industry in the long-term." CarbonUSD, which has been live on ethereum for two months, can now be transferred onto the EOS blockchain, giving users "even lower fees and faster settlement than on ethereum," according to the firm."
On The (in)Stability of Stablecoins – Bob McElrath – Medium
A “stablecoin” is an attempt to create a synthetic asset that is “more stable” than its underlying constituents. In this article we prove that the only workable stablecoins are those that are composed of a simple (weighted) average of assets, more commonly called a “basket” or simply, “diversification of your portfolio”.
For Bitfinex Users, Dollar Withdrawals Are Now a Weeks-Long Struggle - CoinDesk
"Three weeks after being assured that everything was running smoothly, some customers of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex are wondering why they still can't withdraw their money."
What is a Stablecoin, and Why Does It Matter? – SFOX
"In the volatile world of crypto where a coin can be worth five cents one day and five dollars two months later, the idea of a “stablecoin” — a cryptocurrency whose price experiences relatively little volatility — seems like an oxymoron. Yet more and more stablecoins are appearing these days: just last month, Paxos, Gemini, and Circle all launched their own high-profile stablecoins."
Swiss Crypto Firm Gets Islamic Finance Certification for Sharia-Compliant Stablecoin
"Switzerland-based fintech firm X8 AG has received a certification from the Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) for its Ethereum-based stablecoin. SRB is a leading Sharia consultancy and audit firm licensed by the central bank of Bahrain."
stable coinBitBay Offers up a "Rolling Peg" as a Next Step for Stable Coins
BitBay Launchs Dynamic Peg Stablecoin | C A L I X T E C H N E W S
Stablecoins are crypto sector’s next big bet | Financial Times
"There are now about 120 stablecoin projects under way, according to Stable Report, a crypto research group. While they represent a small fraction of the wider cryptocurrency market, the value of all stablecoins stands at about $3bn, and their issuers have attracted some $350m in venture capital funding to date from the likes of Bain Capital Ventures, Google Ventures and Andreesen Horowitz, a report by cryptocurrency wallet provider Blockchain found."
Breaking the Peg: Every Stablecoin Has Its Points of Failure
"As this brief survey demonstrates, existing stablecoin models represent a spectrum of tradeoffs between functionality, scalability, and decentralization, and offer varying levels of security and vulnerability to failures. Intensifying competition in the field will definitely push the more viable designs to the surface, and there is hope that eventually solutions that are at the same time secure, scalable, and decentralized will emerge in the market. Meanwhile, experts look at the sector’s near prospects rather optimistically."
Reserve’s Analysis of the Basis Protocol – Reserve Currency – Medium
"Basis took Robert Sams’ Seigniorage Shares concept and developed it into a simple and elegant decentralized stablecoin protocol, which they very skillfully communicated to the public. Unfortunately, despite an honest and pioneering effort, I expect Basis to fail. They have taken many steps in the right direction, but ultimately they will not succeed in creating a reliable stablecoin."
Stablecoin Purchases Surged Amid Wednesday's Crypto Market Drop - CoinDesk
"The crypto market took a turn for the worse on Wednesday when it lost nearly $30 billion in total market capitalization – but not every asset struggled to find buyers."
Stablecoin Wars: Crypto Merchant Service BitPay Lists Paxos Standard
BitPay today expanded its stable of stablecoin offerings for merchant settlement to include the new Paxos Standard, the most heavily traded of the recently-launched group of “regulated stablecoins.” As CCN reported in October, BitPay has already added support for Circle’s USD Coin and Gemini’s GUSD. It has apparently decided not to support USDT — or Tether –which was the world’s first major “stablecoin” and has the backing of giant fiat-crypto margin-supporting exchange Bitfinex.
Bitcoin Price Manipulated by Tether? Justice Department Probing - Bloomberg
"As Bitcoin plunges, the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether last year’s epic rally was fueled in part by manipulation, with traders driving it up with Tether -- a popular but controversial digital token."
Circle's Dollar-Tied Stablecoin Fully Backed, Auditor's 'Attestation' Says - CoinDesk
"Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. branch of Grant Thornton International, reported in an attestation dated Nov. 16 that Circle had $127,412,240.89 held in custody accounts as of Oct. 31, 2018, slightly exceeding the 127,408,827 USDC tokens in circulation at the time."
CEMENT - What Is Cement
"CEMENT IS A BASKET OF MANY STABLECOINS: Stablecoin holders can deposit their stablecoins into the Cement Mixer (that’s what we’re calling the basket), to benefit from increased liquidity, greater stability and protection from risk."
Stablecoin Index
Japanese Regulator: Stablecoins Are Not Cryptocurrencies Under Current Law - Bitcoin News
Japan’s amended Fund Settlement Law and the amended Payment Services Act defines “virtual currencies,” which include cryptocurrencies, as a means of payment and exempts them from consumption tax. The latter requires cryptocurrency exchange operators to register with the FSA. However, in principle, stable coins pegged by legal currencies do not fall into the category of ‘virtual currencies’ based on the Payment Services Act. Hence, it is not necessarily appropriate to suggest that stablecoin issuers need to obtain or register before issuing the coins.” Nonetheless, generally speaking, companies need to register as the ‘Issuer of Prepaid Payment Instruments’ or the ‘Funds Transfer Service Providers’ based on Payment Services Act, when virtual currency broker dealers trade stable coins.
Exclusive: "There Is an Organized Campaign Against Us," Says Tether
"The story put forth by Bloomberg cites an unbacked, independent study which claims that, if USDT were to be unbacked (i.e. supply-driven and “pushed" onto traders as opposed to “pulled” via organic demand) it could indicate manipulation of the Bitcoin price. The entire study relies on the assumption that USDT is unbacked and therefore not sufficiently driven by trader demand. This is flawed, and claims which suggest that USDT transactions aren’t driven by demand when it is consistently in the top 2 of traded cryptocurrencies in the space with regards to volume, are simply ridiculous by now. To reiterate, the accusation against Tether is based around the assumption that outstanding USDTs are unbacked - something which has been proven false time and time again."
How Crypto Social Network Minds Uses Ads to Create a Semi-Stablecoin
"Frequent Bitcoin commentator and Cornell professor Emin Gün Sirer believes there is a distinct difference between a coin that is pegged to a fiat currency and a coin that is “stable.” In a recent tweet, he noted that MakerDAO should be considered “stable,” because it uses algorithmic methods of achieving a stable ratio, while USDC and Tether should be considered “pegged,” in that they use simple methods and the banking system to retain a 1:1 ratio with fiat currency."
Tether Says Customers Can Once Again Deposit and Redeem Fiat - CoinDesk
"Tether Ltd., the controversial issuer of the tether stablecoin (USDT), which aims for parity with the U.S. dollar, announced Tuesday that it would reopen account verification for new customers and enable customers to redeem tether for fiat currency directly through its platform. “Tether is able to return to its original vision of having a wallet for creating and redeeming directly on its own platform without having to rely on a third party,” the company said in a post on its website. “This update allows the immediate withdrawal of Tether to fiat (1:1), with the ability to acquire coming soon.” Notably, withdrawals will be subject to a high minimum of $100,000 and significant fees."
Crypto Mining Firm to Launch Remittance-Friendly Digital Peso in H1 2019
"Huaren Capital had entered the Philippines’ business territory to expand its crypto mining business. But the Chinese firm has found another purpose on the sideways. The crypto giant plans to launch a digitized version of Philippino Peso called “Digital Peso” in the first half of 2019, reported Inquirer. The coin, whose per unit value would likely be pegged to 1 Peso, would be a base currency of a proposed two-way remittance corridor between China and the Philippines."
Paxos Standard: Why This Stablecoin Might be the One to Dethrone Tether
"While TrueUSD maintains an early-mover advantage, it increasingly appears that the quest to supplant tether is becoming a two-horse race between PAX and USDC, who are rapidly gaining on TUSD and have thus far left GUSD in the dust. USD Coin, unlike Paxos Standard, is backed by the biggest household name in crypto. Coinbase, along with fellow bitcoin unicorn Circle, is a co-issuer of USDC, and both are founding members of the CENTRE consortium, which governs the development of USDC and future stablecoin offerings. Consequently, USDC is listed directly on the Coinbase platform, enabling the firm’s tens of millions of users to easily convert between the token and fiat without having to open any new accounts."
Op-Ed: Is Tether Trying to Price Itself out of the Stablecoin Wars?
"Well, fine. But here’s the problem: Tether’s fees and limits are sort of outrageous, especially compared to its much more recent competitors. Paxos Standard (PAX) has no redemption fee but a minimum of $100. The same with Circle’s USD Coin (USDC). But Tether? Well, to even consider redeeming your USDT for USD with Tether proper, you’ll need to be doing it $100,000 at a time. You’ll pay a minimum fee of 0.1% to make a deposit and acquire USDT, and there are three tiers of withdrawal fees: 0.4% at $100,000 or more, 1% at $1 million or more, and 3% at $10 million or more."
Cryptoassets Explained: USD Coin - USCoin USD (Cryptocurrency:USDC-USD) | Seeking Alpha
"In case you're not familiar with stable coins, you can read my article about Tether (USDT-USD) to get caught up. However, what Tether set out to accomplish may actually be achieved by USD Coin (USDC-USD), which operates in a much more transparent and trustworthy manner (even though it's still very new, being launched less than two months ago)."
The European Central Bank are Pushing Digital Payments
TIPS is basically a central bank-owned version of XRP, which makes the Ripple offering irrelevant and is maybe a reason why the much-anticipated xRapid product saw little uptake from the large financial institutions.
Stablecoin Issuer Promises Full Audits of Euro-Backed Crypto Token - CoinDesk
Stasis, a Malta-based issuer of stablecoins, has hired accounting firm BDO Malta to conduct quarterly and annual audits of its financials, including the euro reserves backing the startup’s EURS token.