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Topic: [2021-01-20] Janet Yellen suggests 'curtailing' cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (Read 732 times)

hero member
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settlement reached in NY

https://twitter.com/Tether_to/status/1364197571300913153

Tether & @Bitfinex have reached a settlement with @NewYorkStateAG
After 2.5 years and 2.5M pages of info shared, we admit to no wrongdoing and will pay US$18.5M to resolve this matter. 1/3
1:57 PM · 23 feb. 2021·Twitter Web App
full member
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FRX: Ferocious Alpha
Bad signal for the market at first sight. On the other hand, judging by the behavior of the bitcoin price in recent years, the market does not pay attention to such a trifle as "the attitude of the candidate for the post of the US Treasury Secretary." The rally continues investors bring money - as long as everyone is happy. Where the bottom will be and at what point the market will turn around with the next such "expert opinion" is the main question of interest.
member
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For states, the reduction in bitcoin will only play into the hands.  All this is because if the population of the country receives additional income in unofficial places, then taxes will not increase accordingly, and maybe even decrease, because people will not have to pay taxes if they are unemployed
legendary
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@Vishnu.Reang. I reckon government might shutdown Tether similar to their takedown on Liberty Reserve. It would be money laundering and RICO cases on the people involved. This is their only way to stop bitcoin’s bull market and their excuse to impose stricter regulations.

I speculate that Bitfinex might not be the only exchange involved.



May 28, 2013— -- Internet bank Liberty Reserve is being charged with laundering $6 billion in suspected crime proceeds, including the illegal profits from credit card fraud, identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, child pornography and narcotics trafficking.

Source https://abcnews.go.com/US/black-market-bank-accused-laundering-6b-criminal-proceeds/story?id=19275887
sr. member
Activity: 1988
Merit: 453
My guess is, they are letting Tether growing because whoever allowing this scam are also scammers themselves. See the FED and their trillion after trillion money printing. The FED prints to support the stock prices, BitFinex prints to support crypto. There is no difference. One scammer won't squeeze the neck of the other fellow scammer.

Have to agree with this. The growth in the market cap of Tether right now is really confusing for me, because hardly anyone I personally know are keeping their money in USDT. Most of these people converted back to BTC or ETH, as soon as the bull run started. So who is holding USDT right now? I just hope that if USDT collapses, then the SEC and FinCen won't use it as an excuse against greater regulation for Bitcoin.

Now coming back to Yellen, there was a statement from her three days back. In her statement, she claimed that "misuse" of Bitcoin is a "growing problem" and stricter regulations are needed to prevent it. She also said that the Blockchain technology shows a lot of promise. It is the same strategy from all these politicians. They are trying to paint cryptocurrency as something evil, and at the same time, showing a much more conciliatory stance towards Blockchain. What do they want? Ban cryptocurrencies and then promote their own CBDC shitcoin using the Blockchain?
legendary
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Neighborhood Shenanigans Dispenser
legendary
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@mindrust. It might also because the government cannot create a serious case to implicate and takedown tether. Bitfinex might have hired the best lawyers.

In any case, I might have determined the real reason why Janet Yellen wants to curtain bitcoin and other cryptocoins hehehehe. The bitcoin sign guy caused this!

[img https://i.ibb.co/ft5Q7ZD/F85-BDDF6-F8-E7-4-CD2-B882-FD82-D1231885.png[/img]

I still cannot decide if the government really like crypto or not tbh. I was thinking about the same stuff 5 years ago still not much changed. Crypto very well could be a government trap. Do you know who satoshi is? Nobody does.

It is human nature to be afraid of what is unknown and i am afraid of crypto.

They say crypto is going to replace physical FIAT and everything will be digital. Who the fck would believe that is a good thing? Physical FIAT is a security feature.

edit: Again, many people here think that they are acting against the Central banks by supporting crypto. (just like the dude in the picture you posted) What if they are actually helping them without knowing? That's a good possibility imo.
If really crypto was a government trap we would have to admit that it was the best trap ever engineered by the government. Thinking of how it all started if there are some agencies behind it, I would be so amused.
We have no certainty but I can't really see the government involved in this. It would have too subtle for them.
legendary
Activity: 3276
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@mindrust. It might also because the government cannot create a serious case to implicate and takedown tether. Bitfinex might have hired the best lawyers.

In any case, I might have determined the real reason why Janet Yellen wants to curtain bitcoin and other cryptocoins hehehehe. The bitcoin sign guy caused this!

[img https://i.ibb.co/ft5Q7ZD/F85-BDDF6-F8-E7-4-CD2-B882-FD82-D1231885.png[/img]

I still cannot decide if the government really like crypto or not tbh. I was thinking about the same stuff 5 years ago still not much changed. Crypto very well could be a government trap. Do you know who satoshi is? Nobody does.

It is human nature to be afraid of what is unknown and i am afraid of crypto.

They say crypto is going to replace physical FIAT and everything will be digital. Who the fck would believe that is a good thing? Physical FIAT is a security feature.

edit: Again, many people here think that they are acting against the Central banks by supporting crypto. (just like the dude in the picture you posted) What if they are actually helping them without knowing? That's a good possibility imo.
legendary
Activity: 3122
Merit: 1492
@mindrust. It might also because the government cannot create a serious case to implicate and takedown tether. Bitfinex might have hired the best lawyers.

In any case, I might have determined the real reason why Janet Yellen wants to curtain bitcoin and other cryptocoins hehehehe. The bitcoin sign guy caused this!

legendary
Activity: 3276
Merit: 2442
Most people you see around either sitting on too many bitcoins than what they should be hodling or they after a quick hit and run thinking they can time the markets. It is natural for you to get those responses from those people they are only defending their positions. You can safely ignore their thoughts.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Tether is a scam and it is becoming a bigger scam every day.

Have to agree with this post. Also, the Tether market cap seems to be increasing with every passing day. I understand that Tether foundation has loaned out huge number of USDT tokens to various exchanges, but when the Bitcoin prices are going up at such a steady pace, I would have expected the Tether market cap to decline (people would be converting more of their stablecoins to cryptocurrencies). But the USDT market cap seems to be moving only in one direction. How this can happen?

My guess is, they are letting Tether growing because whoever allowing this scam are also scammers themselves. See the FED and their trillion after trillion money printing. The FED prints to support the stock prices, BitFinex prints to support crypto. There is no difference. One scammer won't squeeze the neck of the other fellow scammer.
sr. member
Activity: 1988
Merit: 453
Most people you see around either sitting on too many bitcoins than what they should be hodling or they after a quick hit and run thinking they can time the markets. It is natural for you to get those responses from those people they are only defending their positions. You can safely ignore their thoughts.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Tether is a scam and it is becoming a bigger scam every day.

Have to agree with this post. Also, the Tether market cap seems to be increasing with every passing day. I understand that Tether foundation has loaned out huge number of USDT tokens to various exchanges, but when the Bitcoin prices are going up at such a steady pace, I would have expected the Tether market cap to decline (people would be converting more of their stablecoins to cryptocurrencies). But the USDT market cap seems to be moving only in one direction. How this can happen?
member
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It would definitely be nice to have control over bitcoins, but this is a super-known cryptocurrency that is not only difficult to control, but also to keep track of it, because more and more new users, companies, etc. are beginning to use bitcoin.
sr. member
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Officials are accustomed to acting in an administrative manner. Janet Yellen seems to believe that the growing acceptance of cryptocurrency by people around the world can be offset simply by an administrative order, such as an order to "cut" bitcoin. Apparently, it is very far from understanding what a cryptocurrency is. I would like to see how it will "reduce" the cryptocurrency in practice.
legendary
Activity: 3122
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@mindrust. I also presented that idea. It is very possible that exchanges are given USDT as loans to be paid later. This also implies that what is presently backing the cryptospace market is debt.
legendary
Activity: 3276
Merit: 2442
Where were the 2 of you when I needed to be defended from being accused of creating FUD on tether hehehe. It also appears some of those people who are on the side of tether are telling me that tether is shady, however, its takedown will not start another bear market. How can this be? It might begin a complete government crackdown on everything in the cryptospace.

If you really believe in yourself and what you see, you don't need the others approval bruh.  Cool Good thoughts don't need that kind of shit.

You don't even need to warn people. Let the mania go free.

Also the article you shared in your topic, (crypto-anon 2021) I was seeing its link a lot lately but never bothered to read till today. I mean what else it could tell me that I didn't know already? and I was right, Even though I didn't catch anything wrong in that article and it  is pretty much saying what most anti-tether people saying for months or years.

Nearly all trading volume of crypto is coming from tether. Nobody is trading their US dollars (or Euros or Pounds etc) for crypto. (I have been telling this a lot lately way before that article)

There is especially one thing I liked in that article however, it is that it says every time you sell your tethers for real FIAT and withdraw, you force Tether Corp to print more Tethers.

Many months ago I said something similar. I can't probably find the exact post now but I said something like this:

"What if the growing tether MC numbers isn't the amount that people buy from Finex/Tether.Corp but it is the amount Finex owes? to keep bitcoin afloat at these price levels?"

In other words that $26B MC could very well mean Bitfinex's debt to every crypto holder. Every time a new minted millionaire sells his crypto for real FIAT, they go more into debt and this will go on and on, (till it is not) I couldn't believe my eyes when the tether's MC became $9B for the first time and now it is $26B. Yeah I bet many people think it will go on forever.

What is even more worrying is when the tether goes down and burns millions of people and their life savings, there won't be a return from that. It won't be like gox. They won't let crypto be like it used to be. Maybe that's their real intention. The give the max damage to those who refuse the Gov's authority by letting Tether become a monster ponzi. I don't know all that.
legendary
Activity: 3766
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Finally I see something I can absolutely agree with. The fact that Tether is taking 70% of trading volume doesn't add the value to USDT. Tether's "value" is solely based on the trust of people using it that those billions of USDT are backed by billions of real USD, and the most important fact in this story is that Tether’s reserves have never been fully audited by an independent 3rd party.

Imo, it can collapse any moment, and if that happened, crypto market would quickly adjust to a new reality: people who love stable coins so much, would switch to other stable coins, and the smartest would switch back to good old Bitcoin pairs.

Tether can collapse at any moment. But for that to happen, two factors need to overlap. From what I have heard, Tether foundation is using a lot of their reserve funds to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The first factor would be triggered, if their assets return a loss for them. IMO, that is not going to happen anytime soon as the bull run is not yet finished. The second factor is related to the demand-supply equilibrium. Right now they are able to maintain the market cap at around $27 billion, because there is huge demand out there in the market. But if there is a market crash or legal action targeting USDT, then users will attempt to redeem USDT for USD. Under such circumstances, the foundation will find itself cash strapped.
legendary
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Where were the 2 of you when I needed to be defended from being accused of creating FUD on tether hehehe. It also appears some of those people who are on the side of tether are telling me that tether is shady, however, its takedown will not start another bear market. How can this be? It might begin a complete government crackdown on everything in the cryptospace.
legendary
Activity: 3374
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I stand with Ukraine.
@mindrust. No, I agree with much of your arguments. We might agree on many things about tether, I reckon hehe. Go to my big short thread in the speculation subforum. I tried arguing every speculation of what might occur based on facts, however, some people call it FUD. I am shaking my head, why?

Most people you see around either sitting on too many bitcoins than what they should be hodling or they after a quick hit and run thinking they can time the markets. It is natural for you to get those responses from those people they are only defending their positions. You can safely ignore their thoughts.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Tether is a scam and it is becoming a bigger scam every day.

Finally I see something I can absolutely agree with. The fact that Tether is taking 70% of trading volume doesn't add the value to USDT. Tether's "value" is solely based on the trust of people using it that those billions of USDT are backed by billions of real USD, and the most important fact in this story is that Tether’s reserves have never been fully audited by an independent 3rd party.

Imo, it can collapse any moment, and if that happened, crypto market would quickly adjust to a new reality: people who love stable coins so much, would switch to other stable coins, and the smartest would switch back to good old Bitcoin pairs.
legendary
Activity: 3276
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@mindrust. No, I agree with much of your arguments. We might agree on many things about tether, I reckon hehe. Go to my big short thread in the speculation subforum. I tried arguing every speculation of what might occur based on facts, however, some people call it FUD. I am shaking my head, why?

Most people you see around either sitting on too many bitcoins than what they should be hodling or they after a quick hit and run thinking they can time the markets. It is natural for you to get those responses from those people they are only defending their positions. You can safely ignore their thoughts.

The fundamentals haven't changed. Tether is a scam and it is becoming a bigger scam every day.
legendary
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@mindrust. No, I agree with much of your arguments. We might agree on many things about tether, I reckon hehe. Go to my big short thread in the speculation subforum. I tried arguing every speculation of what might occur based on facts, however, some people call it FUD. I am shaking my head, why?
legendary
Activity: 3276
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@Betwrong, @mindtrust. I am reading through your posts. I might be mistaken, however, it appears that you are contradicting yourselves.

Similar, to some premined altcoins, 78% of the bitcoin in circulation has become illiquid. They are only held in wallets as speculative investments waiting to be sold at higher prices. There are presently only 4.2 million coins that are traded daily.

Where did I contradict myself? Saying that tether going down would harm bitcoin and also pump it at the same time? Do you think pumping bitcoin gox style is actually helping bitcoin? No.

It will not take that much to pump the price to $100k or dump this to $10k.

Agreed. Gox took the price from 2 digits to 3 digits. The markets were much smaller back in the day that's right but the trades were actually happening against the real dollar. (we learned later on there was no dollars -or bitcoins- huh) Right now, the amount of Dollars (tethers) they have is infinite. (again, they actually don't) Which means they can pump (or dump) crypto to anywhere they want.

Also, on Tether if taken down, bitcoin might pump in the beginning

Yep.

however, will everyone really want to sell their bitcoins for worthless, taken down USDT? There will be a liquidity shock. All bitcoins might not have enough buyers for the sellers.

When it starts happening, people won't know that tether is dying. They'll think it is just another pump and dump and free money. Did people give a fuck about it when gox was raising the prices? NO.

Everybody was happy af seeing BTC going from $50 to $1200. (and unhappy after $1200 > $120) The prices were rising huge and some people were making money because somebody else was losing money! (Gox people)

Same story. Of course everybody in this space thinks that it is not them who'll be the next victim... till they are.
legendary
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@Betwrong, @mindtrust. I am reading through your posts. I might be mistaken, however, it appears that you are contradicting yourselves.

Similar, to some premined altcoins, 78% of the bitcoin in circulation has become illiquid. They are only held in wallets as speculative investments waiting to be sold at higher prices. There are presently only 4.2 million coins that are traded daily.

It will not take that much to pump the price to $100k or dump this to $10k.

Also, on Tether if taken down, bitcoin might pump in the beginning, however, will everyone really want to sell their bitcoins for worthless, taken down USDT? There will be a liquidity shock. All bitcoins might not have enough buyers for the sellers.
legendary
Activity: 3276
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~

You missed the other part of my post however. What about the trading volume that belongs to tether by 70%? Since you like to see the source of information here it is:

https://coingape.com/tether-dominates-exchange-trading-with-70-of-the-volume/

What do you think will happen when tether goes down and crypto lose its trading volume by 70%?

Not going to affect it much y right i bet it wont.
legendary
Activity: 3374
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I stand with Ukraine.
~But Tether's market cap is 23 times smaller that that of BTC. ~

I don't think Bitcoin's MC and Tether's MC have the same dynamics.

Many bitcoins are either lost or haven't moved in the last 5-7+ years which means there are way less bitcoins in circulation than people think and that would mean bitcoin's actual marketcap is actually smaller than it looks and therefore it would also mean that bitcoin would get affected by the collapse of tether more than people think.~

Let's use an estimation made by Chainalysis, instead of saying "many". Smiley

Of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin, around 20 percent — currently worth around $140 billion — appear to be in lost or otherwise stranded wallets, according to the cryptocurrency data firm Chainalysis.

If we subtracted those 20% from the current Bitcoin MC

636,382,757,275 - (636,382,757,275 : 5) = 509,106,205,820

we would still get a MC that 19 times higher than Tether's.

Now, I'm not absolutely sure about the possible effect of exchanging all USDT for BTC, but I don't think the effect can be big.
legendary
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@Sithara007. I reckon for the legitimate companies that issued stablecoins with the proper licenses per state in America, it will be hard without an order from the courts. For Tether, it might occur anytime. They are not regulated and do not have the proper licenses.



Tether isn’t regulated by FinCEN. Rather, it is registered with FinCEN. These two R words are quite different. When an institution is registered with FinCEN, this means FinCEN has provided it with an electronic account for uploading suspicious transaction reports (SARs) and $10,000 cash transaction reports (CTRs). As per FinCEN requirements, a registered entity must also implement measures for collecting and verifying the identity of customers.

While it is commendable that Tether has chosen to register itself with FinCEN, collect customer information and regularly file SARs, there’s nothing special about this status.

PayPal, which I mentioned above, is regulated as a money services business in over 50 different U.S. states. Circle and Coinbase, which together issue the second-largest stablecoin, USD coin, have are licensed multiple state financial services departments.


Source https://www.coindesk.com/what-tether-means-when-it-says-its-regulated
legendary
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Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
why? a lot of the market already trusts stablecoins like PAX and USDC a lot more than USDT. they're issued by regulated/licensed companies. plus, if the market starts dumping their stablecoins below their redeemable value, big whales will just arbitrage them back to $1, because free money.

If their bank accounts are frozen by the authorities, then it may not be possible (at least in the immediate term) to convert USDT to USD at 1:1 ratio. Obviously the risk is there for all the stablecoins, because they need bank accounts to store their fiat cash reserves. I don't think that any of them would chose to store the money in the form of banknotes and coins (even if they do so, the risk of confiscation is there). And a few days back, we saw how easy was it for the banks to shut down the account of the former president of the United States. Given that, do you really think it will be difficult for them to either freeze or shut down the bank account of any of these stablecoin foundations?
legendary
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@Sithara007. You understand, good. I have been telling everyone about this on another thread in the speculation subforum, however, they have called it FUD even if the argument was based on facts. How can anyone call it FUD if it was facts based? It is speculation.

well which one is it---facts or speculation? it's one thing to say tether is/was not 1:1 backed, or that the state of new york is suing them---those are certainly facts. i can agree with that. it's another thing to suggest tether's takedown is a sure thing, and that this will crash the bitcoin market. those aren't facts.



I am not telling everyone that Tether, iFinex, Digiifinex and Bitfinex’s take down is a sure thing, however, their takedown if it were to occur might cause the cryptospace’s version of the big short and another long bear market. That is the speculation.
legendary
Activity: 3276
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~ What if they are exiting tether right now? If you were an insider with that information, you would exit tether and buy something else. That could be bitcoin or something else and when enough people do the same thing then bitcoin would moon.

They key word here is, "insider". (knowing something that the majority don't) When that information becomes public, nobody will be able to get out because everybody will try to exit at the same time.

Right now everybody thinks (maybe not everybody) Tether is still OK and no danger ahead. (at least not in the foreseeable future).

Not saying that it is happening right now (i mean the tether collapse) but if it was happening, it would be just like this.

When the news hit the forums, it will already be too late for the Avg. Joe.

But Tether's market cap is 23 times smaller that that of BTC. Even if all the USDT in existence were spent on buying Bitcoin, although it would affect the price in the positive way, I don't think BTC would moon because of that. I think, we are in a phase when no manipulations with other currencies can affect BTC price much.

I don't think Bitcoin's MC and Tether's MC have the same dynamics.

Many bitcoins are either lost or haven't moved in the last 5-7+ years which means there are way less bitcoins in circulation than people think and that would mean bitcoin's actual marketcap is actually smaller than it looks and therefore it would also mean that bitcoin would get affected by the collapse of tether more than people think.

Marketcap is only one side of this story. What is even more important that 70% of the crypto trading volume comes from tether which means tether is responsible for the liquidity of all crypto assets by 70%.

Why do you think would happen when crypto markets lose 70% of its liquidity?
legendary
Activity: 3374
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I stand with Ukraine.
~ What if they are exiting tether right now? If you were an insider with that information, you would exit tether and buy something else. That could be bitcoin or something else and when enough people do the same thing then bitcoin would moon.

They key word here is, "insider". (knowing something that the majority don't) When that information becomes public, nobody will be able to get out because everybody will try to exit at the same time.

Right now everybody thinks (maybe not everybody) Tether is still OK and no danger ahead. (at least not in the foreseeable future).

Not saying that it is happening right now (i mean the tether collapse) but if it was happening, it would be just like this.

When the news hit the forums, it will already be too late for the Avg. Joe.

But Tether's market cap is 23 times smaller that that of BTC. Even if all the USDT in existence were spent on buying Bitcoin, although it would affect the price in the positive way, I don't think BTC would moon because of that. I think, we are in a phase when no manipulations with other currencies can affect BTC price much.
legendary
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@Sithara007. You understand, good. I have been telling everyone about this on another thread in the speculation subforum, however, they have called it FUD even if the argument was based on facts. How can anyone call it FUD if it was facts based? It is speculation.

well which one is it---facts or speculation? it's one thing to say tether is/was not 1:1 backed, or that the state of new york is suing them---those are certainly facts. i can agree with that. it's another thing to suggest tether's takedown is a sure thing, and that this will crash the bitcoin market. those aren't facts.

And there will be big impact on the cryptocurrency market. If Tether is not safe, then none of the stablecoins are safe.

why? a lot of the market already trusts stablecoins like PAX and USDC a lot more than USDT. they're issued by regulated/licensed companies. plus, if the market starts dumping their stablecoins below their redeemable value, big whales will just arbitrage them back to $1, because free money.
legendary
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@Sithara007. You understand, good. I have been telling everyone about this on another thread in the speculation subforum, however, they have called it FUD even if the argument was based on facts. How can anyone call it FUD if it was facts based? It is speculation.

Also, I speculate the market makers in the exchanges themselves would remove their coins from the USDT markets. Yes it might cause a pump in the beginning because of low liquidity from the sell side, however, it will certainly dump later on.
legendary
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Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
I very much disagree that Tether USDT holders can pump bitcoin when the takedown begins. You as a bitcoin holder, why would you sell your bitcoins for something that you know will be worthless after takedown?

In that case the trading volume would decline by a lot. Right now, most of the BTC trading volume is made up of BTC-USDT pair. If that is taken out of the equation, then the volume would decline by more than 50%. The scenario will be different from the one we had after SEC took action against XRP. Back then, most of the users had converted their XRP to BTC, ETH or USDT. But in this case the available options are less in number. I guess a majority of the users will try to convert their USDT to USD or other fiat currency, even if that means paying a hefty markup.
legendary
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@Sithara007. My biggest concern is the Democrats might attack and takedown where they can also hurt the whole cryptospace. Tether.

There are a few people in here who are certain that bitcoin will pump if Tether was taken down because they would exit Tether by buying bitcoin hehe. This is comedy.
If that is where Tether is going where can I sign for it?  Cool It would be a great happy ending. All USDT in circulation would finally move back to BTC where they belong.
Apart from that, that's something I fail to understand: it's only a mere 1:1 representation of a dollar. There has been more to it to let it grow above many $B of capitalization. There are many stablecoins around but tether has always been the preferred choice of traders, speculators and you name others.
Even though, I might be happy if it disappears, I don't think we will ever have something similar if it blows up.
And decentralized alternatives struggles to take off, unfortunately.

I very much disagree that Tether USDT holders can pump bitcoin when the takedown begins. You as a bitcoin holder, why would you sell your bitcoins for something that you know will be worthless after takedown?
legendary
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I don't know what will happen, but tether and other centralized parts of the crypto scene are vulnerable to big government authoritarian policies much more so than bitcoin.  If one didn't have to worry about control freaks in government, things would be much better.

Stablecoins such as Tether are vulnerable to authoritarian action, because unlike the case with Bitcoin or Ethereum, they are not decentralized. The authorities can seize Tether assets and make that token completely worthless. And there will be big impact on the cryptocurrency market. If Tether is not safe, then none of the stablecoins are safe. Trading will come to a halt, especially in jurisdictions where fiat currency is not permitted for trading (such as China). And indications are that USDT will be the next target after XRP.

Exactly.  Anything with a central entity - be it person, small group, corporation, developer, miner etc - in a position of power is vulnerable to authoritarian control.  Look at ripple.  There are probably some jurisdictions that they might be safer than others from over regulation, but they are few and far between.  e.g. online casinos in Antigua, others in Cook Islands, Panama etc.
legendary
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I don't know what will happen, but tether and other centralized parts of the crypto scene are vulnerable to big government authoritarian policies much more so than bitcoin.  If one didn't have to worry about control freaks in government, things would be much better.

Stablecoins such as Tether are vulnerable to authoritarian action, because unlike the case with Bitcoin or Ethereum, they are not decentralized. The authorities can seize Tether assets and make that token completely worthless. And there will be big impact on the cryptocurrency market. If Tether is not safe, then none of the stablecoins are safe. Trading will come to a halt, especially in jurisdictions where fiat currency is not permitted for trading (such as China). And indications are that USDT will be the next target after XRP.
legendary
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@Sithara007. My biggest concern is the Democrats might attack and takedown where they can also hurt the whole cryptospace. Tether.

There are a few people in here who are certain that bitcoin will pump if Tether was taken down because they would exit Tether by buying bitcoin hehe. This is comedy.

I don't know what will happen, but tether and other centralized parts of the crypto scene are vulnerable to big government authoritarian policies much more so than bitcoin.  If one didn't have to worry about control freaks in government, things would be much better.
legendary
Activity: 3276
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@Sithara007. My biggest concern is the Democrats might attack and takedown where they can also hurt the whole cryptospace. Tether.

There are a few people in here who are certain that bitcoin will pump if Tether was taken down because they would exit Tether by buying bitcoin hehe. This is comedy.

You know what...

What if they are exiting tether right now? If you were an insider with that information, you would exit tether and buy something else. That could be bitcoin or something else and when enough people do the same thing then bitcoin would moon.

They key word here is, "insider". (knowing something that the majority don't) When that information becomes public, nobody will be able to get out because everybody will try to exit at the same time.

Right now everybody thinks (maybe not everybody) Tether is still OK and no danger ahead. (at least not in the foreseeable future).

Not saying that it is happening right now (i mean the tether collapse) but if it was happening, it would be just like this.

When the news hit the forums, it will already be too late for the Avg. Joe.
legendary
Activity: 2310
Merit: 1422
@Sithara007. My biggest concern is the Democrats might attack and takedown where they can also hurt the whole cryptospace. Tether.

There are a few people in here who are certain that bitcoin will pump if Tether was taken down because they would exit Tether by buying bitcoin hehe. This is comedy.
If that is where Tether is going where can I sign for it?  Cool It would be a great happy ending. All USDT in circulation would finally move back to BTC where they belong.
Apart from that, that's something I fail to understand: it's only a mere 1:1 representation of a dollar. There has been more to it to let it grow above many $B of capitalization. There are many stablecoins around but tether has always been the preferred choice of traders, speculators and you name others.
Even though, I might be happy if it disappears, I don't think we will ever have something similar if it blows up.
And decentralized alternatives struggles to take off, unfortunately.
legendary
Activity: 3122
Merit: 1492
@Sithara007. My biggest concern is the Democrats might attack and takedown where they can also hurt the whole cryptospace. Tether.

There are a few people in here who are certain that bitcoin will pump if Tether was taken down because they would exit Tether by buying bitcoin hehe. This is comedy.
legendary
Activity: 3346
Merit: 1352
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
Biden will end up very worse and very aggressive against the cryptospace. This might make us wish it was still Trump and his men in charge hehehe.

In any case, this article talks about how Trump’s presidency and his appointees might have created a lenient regime for the cryptospace. I would argue that we might not have witnessed bitcoin’s new all time highs if it was Hilary who won on 2016.



The Trump administration was largely friendly toward the industry (with a few notable exceptions), and ushered in a wave of regulations and products that were welcomed by the crypto community. The Trump administration stopped short of actually setting a policy direction, however. Almost all of the crypto-friendly actions were conducted by the regulators he nominated to various posts, and no significant legislation on the crypto space was passed or signed into law.

Source https://www.coindesk.com/trump-presidency-crypto-legacy

I would agree. Trump was more or less indifferent to cryptocurrency, but he was not hostile. First of all, we need to understand the fact that mainstream politicians are likely to be hostile towards Bitcoin, due to the competition it poses for the national currencies. And this is especially true for politicians from the left and socialist spectrums, who need to print banknotes like crazy to remain in power. On top of that, Trump was a businessman and he knew about the need to tone down unwanted regulations.

Biden on the other hand has policies similar to that of the Chinese Communist Party. In China, individual users have very few options to invest in. Almost all the assets are over-priced by a factor of 3 to 4, including equities and real estate. The government has imposed restrictions on the purchase of bullion and cryptocurrency, because they believe that if people are given a choice to invest in these assets, then they may no longer invest in other overpriced assets. The super-rich has the option of immigrating, but for the remaining 99.99% of the population there are no other options.
legendary
Activity: 3122
Merit: 1492
Hehe it was Trump who was ok for bitcoin. What he says about his stance on bitcoin might be negative, however, his policies never went out of their way for a clear takedown of the cryptospace.

it was the trump administration who just tried to sneak through horrible crypto regulations at the last second---namely, the "travel rule" (KYC on $250+ cross-border transactions) proposal and the "self-hosted wallet" proposal.

the former is horrible on its face. the latter will result in this:
If you're using Bitstamp, now might be a good time to ditch it.
Bitstamp exchange crazy new KYC

biden might end up being worse for crypto, but fuck trump.

Biden will end up very worse and very aggressive against the cryptospace. This might make us wish it was still Trump and his men in charge hehehe.

In any case, this article talks about how Trump’s presidency and his appointees might have created a lenient regime for the cryptospace. I would argue that we might not have witnessed bitcoin’s new all time highs if it was Hilary who won on 2016.



The Trump administration was largely friendly toward the industry (with a few notable exceptions), and ushered in a wave of regulations and products that were welcomed by the crypto community. The Trump administration stopped short of actually setting a policy direction, however. Almost all of the crypto-friendly actions were conducted by the regulators he nominated to various posts, and no significant legislation on the crypto space was passed or signed into law.

Source https://www.coindesk.com/trump-presidency-crypto-legacy
legendary
Activity: 4228
Merit: 1313
Hehe it was Trump who was ok for bitcoin. What he says about his stance on bitcoin might be negative, however, his policies never went out of their way for a clear takedown of the cryptospace.

it was the trump administration who just tried to sneak through horrible crypto regulations at the last second---namely, the "travel rule" (KYC on $250+ cross-border transactions) proposal and the "self-hosted wallet" proposal.

the former is horrible on its face. the latter will result in this:
If you're using Bitstamp, now might be a good time to ditch it.
Bitstamp exchange crazy new KYC

biden might end up being worse for crypto, but fuck trump.

The crypto regulations that they floated in December were just stupid, it seemed like someone trying to slip something in while they could and while Trump was occupied with other concerns.    Biden will be worse for bitcoin and crypto, and liberty.  One often has to take the best of the possible choices vs hoping for the perfect choice. 

legendary
Activity: 1652
Merit: 1483
Hehe it was Trump who was ok for bitcoin. What he says about his stance on bitcoin might be negative, however, his policies never went out of their way for a clear takedown of the cryptospace.

it was the trump administration who just tried to sneak through horrible crypto regulations at the last second---namely, the "travel rule" (KYC on $250+ cross-border transactions) proposal and the "self-hosted wallet" proposal.

the former is horrible on its face. the latter will result in this:
If you're using Bitstamp, now might be a good time to ditch it.
Bitstamp exchange crazy new KYC

biden might end up being worse for crypto, but fuck trump.
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 2198
I stand with Ukraine.
“One area of growing concern, for example, is the potential for terrorists and criminals to use cryptocurrency to finance their activities.”

Of "growing concern", seriously? Didn't we hear the same words from Indian officials several years ago? I thought the issue was settled long time ago, and that anyone with a brain functioning properly would agree with the words of Russell Okung here

“Treasury Sec nominee Yellen says bitcoin is a concern for terrorist financing, money laundering … as if the USD isn’t. Don’t be distracted. The things of old are passing away, fight for your future.”

Apparently I was wrong. And now seeing that U.S. Senate votes to confirm Janet Yellen as Treasury chief, I don't feel good about this.
legendary
Activity: 3122
Merit: 1492
@bryant.coleman. America will never allow competition. It has always protected the dollar and its sanctity. I reckon it was one reason why America invaded Iraq on 2003 because Iraq began policies for dropping the dollar for crude oil trading on 2000. The American government did not take this lightly.



Baghdad's switch from the dollar to the euro for oil trading is intended to rebuke Washington's hard-line on sanctions and to encourage Europeans to challenge it. But the political message will cost Iraq millions in lost revenue. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel looks at what Baghdad will gain and lose, and the impact of the decision to go with the European currency.

Source https://www.rferl.org/a/1095057.html
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
Exactly. Say whatever you want about Trump. Even thought Trump wasn't really a crypto fan at least he wasn't talking about "curtailing" it because he simply didn't care about it.

No matter who is in charge one thing is not going to change. No country in its right mind would give up on its national currency and use something else which they have no control on. (That's right I am looking at you Europe.)

Whoever controls the money, also controls the country.

If the US Dollar gets devalued, then the population may be tempted to use other options, such as bullion or Bitcoin. The M1 monetary supply for US Dollar has gone up by almost 100% in 2020 alone, and 2021 may be even worse as a result of all the stimulus measures announced by Biden. It is actually good news for Bitcoin. But the question is whether the government will allow free competition or not.
legendary
Activity: 3122
Merit: 1492
There was recent news from Albania that a gun running organization (supplying weapons to the Syrian war) with wahabist links had increased it's control in the famously violence infested corner of south-eastern Europe.

guess who was helping fund them? (and using which currency/payment network?). I expect you all need only one guess Wink



If Janet Yellen has proof that Bitcoin funded terrorism, it's likely because her partners in crime at the CIA gave her the information, and they only know because they provided all the guns and the Bitcoins for the deals with the terrorists

I reckon for Janet Yellen and all the Democrats, it does not matter if the information about bitcoin and terrorist funding is true or not true. They only want a campaign against terrorism where they can put billions of tax payer’s money in and take much of it for themselves. Bitcoin will only be a casuality in the Democrats’ war of terrorism.

Also, those bitcoiners in social media who larped for Biden will be those similar people who will complain about Biden.

True.

All those people who thought statists and collectivists like the Biden admin would be good for bitcoin were delusional.  People who want power over others would obviously be anti a pro liberty technology.

Hehe it was Trump who was ok for bitcoin. What he says about his stance on bitcoin might be negative, however, his policies never went out of their way for a clear takedown of the cryptospace.

In any case, we will see the difference with Biden in the next 4 years. I speculate the next cryptocoin pump might be the last.
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1481
Lets just hope that if a tighter regulation will be coming up it will be something that won't hurt the progression of the crypto industry.

i'm going full p2p and DEX from here on out. the regulatory situation around centralized exchanges is rather ominous.
We need more bitcoin-friendly and bitcoin-only accepting businesses as we move forward. You are absolutely right because the regulatory madness has just started. Either we will have a bitcoin-friendly environment or not, the in-between is starting to be ominous to say the least.
legendary
Activity: 3276
Merit: 2442
I think the solution here can be very simple. I suggest curtailing Janet Yellen  Smiley

Voters had the chance to do that three months back, but they voted for her. Now we have to deal with her for at least 4 years. And the situation is much more complex now, due to the trifecta power that the Democrats enjoy. The GOP was never considered as pro-Bitcoin, but at least when compared to the Democrats, they left the cryptocurrency market on its own without much intervention. That is going to change now.

Exactly. Say whatever you want about Trump. Even thought Trump wasn't really a crypto fan at least he wasn't talking about "curtailing" it because he simply didn't care about it.

No matter who is in charge one thing is not going to change. No country in its right mind would give up on its national currency and use something else which they have no control on. (That's right I am looking at you Europe.)

Whoever controls the money, also controls the country.
legendary
Activity: 1652
Merit: 1483
Lets just hope that if a tighter regulation will be coming up it will be something that won't hurt the progression of the crypto industry.

it certainly might hurt the progression of the american crypto industry. that's one saving grace right now---they don't want to jeopardize future tax revenue from american businesses shutting down or moving abroad. the backlash from big companies like coinbase got the treasury department to delay passing the travel rule and self-hosted wallet regulations earlier this month. hopefully that develops into toned down language and better reporting thresholds when the regulations are eventually passed.

ultimately, the feds know the value of the american consumer/investor market, and they know that large crypto services are willing to toe the line in exchange for access to it. the new rules are gonna be bad (as the FATF travel rule already imples).... we can only hope they won't be that bad.

i'm going full p2p and DEX from here on out. the regulatory situation around centralized exchanges is rather ominous.
legendary
Activity: 2310
Merit: 1422
I think the solution here can be very simple. I suggest curtailing Janet Yellen  Smiley
That's no easy task, man. She's just been appointed Head of the United States Department of the Treasury and I believe it's very unlikely we will see her anywhere else in the near future. What I truly don't like about her is that she's way too Keynesian or, as they describe her a "Keynesian to her fingertips". Instead of recognizing the utter fail of a Keynesian principles in the economy, the plague of these kind of economist ruling the world marches on.
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
I think the solution here can be very simple. I suggest curtailing Janet Yellen  Smiley

Voters had the chance to do that three months back, but they voted for her. Now we have to deal with her for at least 4 years. And the situation is much more complex now, due to the trifecta power that the Democrats enjoy. The GOP was never considered as pro-Bitcoin, but at least when compared to the Democrats, they left the cryptocurrency market on its own without much intervention. That is going to change now.
hero member
Activity: 1806
Merit: 672
Lets just hope that if a tighter regulation will be coming up it will be something that won't hurt the progression of the crypto industry. We know that most of our people who are in politics don't know what they are really doing or has been knowledgeable in this kinds of instance but lets hope that their researchers would have the courage enough to say what they know is wrong and that crypto isn't what they think they are. This is also an inevitable thing to happen since we all know that additional regulations will be added let us just prepare for what will come.
jr. member
Activity: 69
Merit: 1
I think the solution here can be very simple. I suggest curtailing Janet Yellen  Smiley
hero member
Activity: 1680
Merit: 655
It's funny to think that 2-3 months ago news media and several "experts" predicted that a "Biden victory means a victory for Bitcoin" as well but now we are seeing news that are completely the opposite. Now the threat the US is facing right now is the ones Biden is electing as heads of the department, this topic created by squatter in the legal section is talking about Gary Gensler who will be taking over in SEC and has the same negative views with cryptocurrencies. With this people in power having the same train of thought we might see more and more stricter regulations being impose in the country which will more likely be detrimental to the crypto industry. IMO they still view crypto as some kind of accessory in the criminal world but tbh putting restrictions to crypto itself won't solve the problem which is the illicit activities.
legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1481
This story allowed me to re-think of the original story from which the movie The International is based upon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_International
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_International_(2009_film)
The film raises concerns about how global finance affects international politics across the world; therefore, let us start 'curtailing' the way banks move around money and then, only then, we can start talking about bitcoin.
legendary
Activity: 3234
Merit: 5637
Blackjack.fun-Free Raffle-Join&Win $50🎲
There was recent news from Albania that a gun running organization (supplying weapons to the Syrian war) with wahabist links had increased it's control in the famously violence infested corner of south-eastern Europe.
guess who was helping fund them? (and using which currency/payment network?). I expect you all need only one guess Wink

I followed this whole situation around the weapons going from the EU to Syria, and I know that at one point Germany said stop because it turned out that the weapons actually end up in the hands of ISIL. As the US and its undisputed ally (SA) were in charge of the entire operation, it is not difficult to conclude that nothing in this story is accidental. Destabilizing the region, overthrowing the pro-Russian regime in Syria and, of course, installing pro-American politicians in power. Unfortunately for them, it failed.

More than a third of the weapons used by "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria came from European Union states — including Germany, a new report has found. The data shows that deadly arms can often end up in the wrong hands.
A significant proportion of the guns and ammunition in "Islamic State's" (IS) cache were manufactured in the European Union, according to the study published Thursday by Conflict Armament Research (CAR).
In its 200-page investigation, the weapons tracking organization claimed that more than 30 percent of the arms used by IS extremists on battlefields in Syria and Iraq originally came from factories in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Germany.
The study, Weapons of the Islamic State, is the result of three years of fieldwork carried out by CAR teams in Iraq and Syria. Between 2014 and 2017, researchers analyzed more than 40,000 items recovered from IS frontline positions, including guns, ammunition, and components used to make explosive devices.

I think the story of Bitcoin and terrorism is already pretty worn out, but one shouldn’t expect its proponents to give up so easily to not use that argument again from time to time. After all, which terrorist organization is currently a threat to the world?
legendary
Activity: 4228
Merit: 1313
There was recent news from Albania that a gun running organization (supplying weapons to the Syrian war) with wahabist links had increased it's control in the famously violence infested corner of south-eastern Europe.

guess who was helping fund them? (and using which currency/payment network?). I expect you all need only one guess Wink



If Janet Yellen has proof that Bitcoin funded terrorism, it's likely because her partners in crime at the CIA gave her the information, and they only know because they provided all the guns and the Bitcoins for the deals with the terrorists

I reckon for Janet Yellen and all the Democrats, it does not matter if the information about bitcoin and terrorist funding is true or not true. They only want a campaign against terrorism where they can put billions of tax payer’s money in and take much of it for themselves. Bitcoin will only be a casuality in the Democrats’ war of terrorism.

Also, those bitcoiners in social media who larped for Biden will be those similar people who will complain about Biden.

True.

All those people who thought statists and collectivists like the Biden admin would be good for bitcoin were delusional.  People who want power over others would obviously be anti a pro liberty technology.
legendary
Activity: 3122
Merit: 1492
There was recent news from Albania that a gun running organization (supplying weapons to the Syrian war) with wahabist links had increased it's control in the famously violence infested corner of south-eastern Europe.

guess who was helping fund them? (and using which currency/payment network?). I expect you all need only one guess Wink



If Janet Yellen has proof that Bitcoin funded terrorism, it's likely because her partners in crime at the CIA gave her the information, and they only know because they provided all the guns and the Bitcoins for the deals with the terrorists

I reckon for Janet Yellen and all the Democrats, it does not matter if the information about bitcoin and terrorist funding is true or not true. They only want a campaign against terrorism where they can put billions of tax payer’s money in and take much of it for themselves. Bitcoin will only be a casuality in the Democrats’ war of terrorism.

Also, those bitcoiners in social media who larped for Biden will be those similar people who will complain about Biden.
sr. member
Activity: 2352
Merit: 245
There've been far too many endorsements for bitcoin recently and the guys in power probably realized that it was enough. Yellen, Lagarde & co. could have made these statements earlier on but they waited. If you ask me, this is the repetitive pattern about bitcoin is bad we've seen up to now.
I wonder how this Yellen intends to "cut" bitcoin. This is not a budget cut that can be cut with the stroke of a pen. Judging by the fact that she only proposes to study the ways of influencing the cryptocurrency, she does not know at all what exactly to do. I agree that such calls from high-ranking officials have begun to sound more and more often. Overall, this is an alarming prospect. States, especially if they unite, can harm the free development of cryptocurrency.
legendary
Activity: 2310
Merit: 1422
There've been far too many endorsements for bitcoin recently and the guys in power probably realized that it was enough. Yellen, Lagarde & co. could have made these statements earlier on but they waited. If you ask me, this is the repetitive pattern about bitcoin is bad we've seen up to now.
legendary
Activity: 2912
Merit: 6403
Blackjack.fun
And here we go, I've got so used to this stuff it doesn't surprise me anymore.
When you go and vote the challenger in your mind you're saying, this can't be worse than the current guy, yet it takes only a few days or weeks to realize you've actually chosen the worse of the two.

So, we can add more names to the list of imbeciles that have some kind of decisional power and are against mass use of bitcoin, I had a feeling things will turn bad the moment I heard Maxine Waters stating to link cryptos and terrorism, I wonder how many will start to pop-up, already Lagarde has open it stupid mouth this side of the Atlantic also, throw in Gary Gensler and this is going to be "fun".




legendary
Activity: 3430
Merit: 3080
There was recent news from Albania that a gun running organization (supplying weapons to the Syrian war) with wahabist links had increased it's control in the famously violence infested corner of south-eastern Europe.

guess who was helping fund them? (and using which currency/payment network?). I expect you all need only one guess Wink



If Janet Yellen has proof that Bitcoin funded terrorism, it's likely because her partners in crime at the CIA gave her the information, and they only know because they provided all the guns and the Bitcoins for the deals with the terrorists
legendary
Activity: 3542
Merit: 1965
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
Yea..... the new broom will want to show that they will do everything in the opposite way, than what their opposition did it.  Roll Eyes So if the Trump administration approved it, then the Biden administration will have to pull it down and re-build it. How many legitimate and regulated companies that are using Crypto currencies now, will have to suffer from these changes? (Take Coinbase as an example.... and Gemini and many of the other exchanges.)

Also, the moment when you over regulate something.. it goes underground... and then those transactions are not taxed. So the US Government will lose Millions in taxes .... and they still will still not have stopped the illegal activities. (Like the WAR on Drugs)  Grin

Also many Crypto currency supporters will change their vote, come next election.. to an administration that supports Crypto currencies.  Cheesy
legendary
Activity: 1806
Merit: 1090
Learning the troll avoidance button :)
Janet Yellen suggests 'curtailing' cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, saying they are mainly used for illegal financing


Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for treasury secretary, suggested on Tuesday that lawmakers "curtail" the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin over concerns that they are "mainly" used for illegal activities.

Yellen's comments suggested the incoming Biden administration could be hostile to cryptocurrencies and ramp up regulation. Watchdogs around the world, from the European Central Bank to the UK's financial regulator, have recently expressed concerns about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Sen. Maggie Hassan asked Yellen during her confirmation hearing on Tuesday about the dangers of terrorists using cryptocurrencies.

"You're absolutely right that the technologies to accomplish this change over time, and we need to make sure that our methods for dealing with these matters, with terrorist financing, change along with changing technology," Yellen said.

"Cryptocurrencies are a particular concern. I think many are used - at least in a transaction sense - mainly for illicit financing.

"And I think we really need to examine ways in which we can curtail their use and make sure that money laundering doesn't occur through those channels."

https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/bitcoin-price-cryptocurrency-should-be-curtailed-terrorism-concerns-yellen-2021-1-1029985692

Second Source
https://news.bitcoin.com/janet-yellen-bitcoin-cryptocurrencies-illicit-financing/
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