Tether/USDT Security | Bitcointalksearch.org

mmortal03

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Quote from: bkbitcoin01 on June 30, 2017, 06:06:09 PM

Noob Question: Say Polioniex is hacked - would the hacker have any benefit from stealing the USDT? As it is a teathered crypto - is it only valid on Polionex?

No Bitfinex uses it to represent USD, other exchanges use it, and you can always cash USDT out at tether.to.

bkbitcoin01

newbie

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Noob Question: Say Polioniex is hacked - would the hacker have any benefit from stealing the USDT? As it is a teathered crypto - is it only valid on Polionex? Can it be forked then or pulled back (ideally by the 'teather') to return the funds to the associated account?

Specifically - is USDT then Safter than BTC on an exchange in the event of a hack?

Thank so much - appreciate all of your expertise and insight!!

BK

sp_skeptic

member

Activity: 110

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Quote from: CoinHoarder on April 28, 2017, 01:22:59 PM

Quote from: JGoRed on April 21, 2017, 10:28:06 AM

They are a lot less vulnerable to hacking and all, but since they're centralized I they are vulnerable to seizure and the like.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think the Omni layer has a feature that allows asset issuers to seize funds. Thus, Omni layer assets (like Tether) are not subject to seizure. They can still be seized the old fashioned way though, the same way any other cryptocurrency or assets can be seized.

Tethers are supposed to be backed up by money in the bank equivalent to the circulating Tethers. It is this money that is vulnerable to seizure.

CoinHoarder

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In Cryptocoins I Trust

Quote from: JGoRed on April 21, 2017, 10:28:06 AM

They are a lot less vulnerable to hacking and all, but since they're centralized I they are vulnerable to seizure and the like.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think the Omni layer has a feature that allows asset issuers to seize funds. Thus, Omni layer assets (like Tether) are not subject to seizure. They can still be seized the old fashioned way though, the same way any other cryptocurrency or assets can be seized.

ulhaq

sr. member

Activity: 503

Merit: 286

Quote from: leopard2 on April 26, 2017, 08:40:25 PM

Tether, Polo or Bitfinex are innocent victims of Uncle Sam bullying other banks and exchanges outside US

This is economic war, no less than economic warfare, Wells Fargo is just some kind of aircraft carrier equivalent

Disgusting. Angry

Time for exchanges to use a different fiat currency than USD, but can Americans even have non-USD accounts? Maybe a EUR account in a European country would work - it is all about the USD intermediary banks I guess. Sad

Is this true? That is the reason that Taiwanese banks are not accepting exchanges?

Even so, some of the responsibility is tether's. they have disclaimed exchanging USDT for USD and have no third party audit of their accounts.

leopard2

legendary

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Tether, Polo or Bitfinex are innocent victims of Uncle Sam bullying other banks and exchanges outside US

This is economic war, no less than economic warfare, Wells Fargo is just some kind of aircraft carrier equivalent

Disgusting. Angry

Time for exchanges to use a different fiat currency than USD, but can Americans even have non-USD accounts? Maybe a EUR account in a European country would work - it is all about the USD intermediary banks I guess. Sad

European Central Bank

legendary

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Quote from: mmortal03 on April 22, 2017, 12:42:39 PM

According to one of their lawyers at the following, the majority owners of Bitfinex (DigFinex) don't own Tether completely, but they do own a less than 50% share. I'd like to know who owns the rest: https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/66fiif/despite_claims_re_hkd_chf_there_are_currently_no/dgj1zz1/

it's hard enough figuring out who's who in bitfinex and where they're based. so if half of tether is already a bordering on a mystery, i'm not gonna put any faith in the totally mysterious other half.

bitfinex have always been mediocre at transparency. as soon as it was clear they were involved in usdt there was never any way i was going anywhere near them.

everything will probably be fine but the way they operate in every area simply ain't acceptable.

mmortal03

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Quote from: ulhaq on April 21, 2017, 04:02:26 PM

Quote from: hermanhs09 on April 21, 2017, 02:00:20 AM

It's owned by Bitfinex.

So right now it's not safe to use.

If Bitfinex is able to clear its name then maybe. Maybe USDT will become safe to use again but right now that isn't the case yet. If you are looking for a payment processor for USD, look into BitUSD, or even centralised alternatives like perfectmoney which is irreversible or Advcash.

How do we know it's owned by bitfinex?

https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/31

Quote

We proudly support tether.

It does not say anything further. The article they link
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tether-introduces-real-world-currency-160000085.html

only mentions integration with bitfinex. But they are integrated with poloniex too.

According to one of their lawyers at the following, the majority owners of Bitfinex (DigFinex) don't own Tether completely, but they do own a less than 50% share. I'd like to know who owns the rest: https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/66fiif/despite_claims_re_hkd_chf_there_are_currently_no/dgj1zz1/

ulhaq

sr. member

Activity: 503

Merit: 286

Quote from: hermanhs09 on April 21, 2017, 02:00:20 AM

It's owned by Bitfinex.

So right now it's not safe to use.

If Bitfinex is able to clear its name then maybe. Maybe USDT will become safe to use again but right now that isn't the case yet. If you are looking for a payment processor for USD, look into BitUSD, or even centralised alternatives like perfectmoney which is irreversible or Advcash.

How do we know it's owned by bitfinex?

https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/31

Quote

We proudly support tether.

It does not say anything further. The article they link
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tether-introduces-real-world-currency-160000085.html

only mentions integration with bitfinex. But they are integrated with poloniex too.

JGoRed

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They are a lot less vulnerable to hacking and all, but since they're centralized I they are vulnerable to seizure and the like. I personally prefer to hold my USD in cash or in my bank account; I’ll leave crypto to BTC Cool

mmortal03

legendary

Activity: 1762

Merit: 1011

Quote from: NUFCrichard on April 21, 2017, 02:33:44 AM

I am not too worried about the USDT wobbling at the moment, but it is quite annyoing when I check the price of bitcoin.
I normally just look on Poloniex to see the alts and Bitcoin prices at once, now the Bitcoin price has little to do with the real USD price, so I have to go to Bitcoinity too.

I understand that these are 1st world problems, but I hope USDT gets back to dollar parity soon,

Use the Bitstamp chart. It's been around a lot longer, too: https://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/bitstamp/btcusd

NUFCrichard

legendary

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I am not too worried about the USDT wobbling at the moment, but it is quite annyoing when I check the price of bitcoin.
I normally just look on Poloniex to see the alts and Bitcoin prices at once, now the Bitcoin price has little to do with the real USD price, so I have to go to Bitcoinity too.

I understand that these are 1st world problems, but I hope USDT gets back to dollar parity soon,

hermanhs09

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Quote from: ulhaq on March 10, 2017, 02:36:03 PM

The market cap of Tether is around an all-time high, ~ $35 million, #11 overall, and probably will keep increasing. I know there are issues in that it is backed by USD, so they have to maintain physical security, etc.

But what maintains the security of the USDT network, hacking attempts, and so forth? I do not think there is mining like bitcoin mining. Tether layers on top of the bitcoin network using the omni protocol, but does that mean the security can somehow be piggybacked on bitcoin security? Or does it have to do with the number of users on tether, as more ppl use it, the security increases?

It's owned by Bitfinex.

So right now it's not safe to use.

If Bitfinex is able to clear its name then maybe. Maybe USDT will become safe to use again but right now that isn't the case yet. If you are looking for a payment processor for USD, look into BitUSD, or even centralised alternatives like perfectmoney which is irreversible or Advcash.

mmortal03

legendary

Activity: 1762

Merit: 1011

Quote from: thebatletbet on April 20, 2017, 06:26:12 PM

Quote from: BitcoinNational on March 12, 2017, 05:47:10 AM

50-cent TX fee ...

Yeah, that.

Nubits is like 0.01 cent.

We'll see.

if every sending fee 50 cent is not good service
because only sending 1 dollar can reduce 50%, crypto curency neeed low sending fee and fast transaction
iam never use tether, because my country not support use tether.io

Make sure you support SegWit, then. Btw, it's tether.to, not tether.io.

thebatletbet

hero member

Activity: 588

Merit: 500

Quote from: BitcoinNational on March 12, 2017, 05:47:10 AM

50-cent TX fee ...

Yeah, that.

Nubits is like 0.01 cent.

We'll see.

if every sending fee 50 cent is not good service
because only sending 1 dollar can reduce 50%, crypto curency neeed low sending fee and fast transaction
iam never use tether, because my country not support use tether.io

emperorofthesea

newbie

Activity: 4

Merit: 0

Quote from: BitcoinNational on March 12, 2017, 05:51:58 AM

tHAT SAID.

Who ever is the $-peg, and can offer decentralized trustee expansion.
WINS!

Very simple idea.

Agent X holds $50k dollars in Bank XYZ.
Agent Y holds $50k dollars in Bank ABC.

this scales.

the blocks of $-value per trustee are of mater of importance.

It will work. Question is who does it?

I am working on a 100% secured currency that has a minimum 1 USD value. I have worked out the legal, tax, and banking aspects of the project, but I am still in need of developers on the technical side if you know anyone who might be interested.

mmortal03

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Sellars and Collins are both involved with the following, as of the end of last month: https://angel.co/vatomic-systems/activity

mmortal03

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According to his LinkedIn profile, Craig Sellars is still involved with it, but it may be out of date: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcsellars/

mmortal03

legendary

Activity: 1762

Merit: 1011

Quote from: ulhaq on March 20, 2017, 10:06:56 AM

EDIT: After more research apparently (although it is not explicitly stated) they only issue USDT per USD they receive. And vice-versa. So they can exchange as much BTC for USDT as they want, and can take a gain or loss on it, but it should not affect the reserves, thus they should be able to maintain solvency. They are not/do not have a bank, but store the USD in external commercial banks, so the funds should be relatively well-protected. There is always the risk that the company absconds with the money. Tether is incorporated in the Virgin Islands. There is some concern that the founder, Brock Pierce, was involved in a child sexual abuse ring:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/hunterschwarz/mystery-man-at-center-of-alleged-hollywood-sex-ring-has-vani

Is Brock Pierce still involved with Tether at this point? I thought Tether was bought by Bitfinex some time ago. Also, Reeve Collins was a co-founder and CEO, but he left in 2015.

ulhaq

sr. member

Activity: 503

Merit: 286

More information on the founder: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/all-things-considered-brock-pierce-et-al-wpoll-610521

Topic: Tether/USDT Security (Read 3779 times)