Over the past week, news broke detailing that Oz Yosef, an executive of the mysterious firm Crypto Capital, has been indicted by the United States for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer service. The news came just days after Crypto Capital’s president, Ivan Manuel Molina Lee, was arrested by Polish authorities on suspicion of laundering roughly $350 million worth of funds from illegal proceeds and having ties to a transnational drug cartel. According to local reports, the arrested was tied to $350 million worth of funds previously seized by the Polish Ministry of …

Ethereum-based decentralized stablecoin DAI is now spendable where VISA cards are accepted and leading stablecoin Tether (USDT) is seeing increasing use by e-commerce organizations. DAI now usable in E.U. stores According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph Oct. 29, collaborative financial platform 2Gether added DAI support to its platform. A spokesperson claimed that this is the first stablecoin added to the platform. As a result of the addition, 2Gether users can now spend their DAI like euros, without fees, anywhere where Visa is accepted with the dedicated card. Furthermore, 2Gether will also enable DAI holders to buy and sell …

The world’s 5th largest crypto exchange OKEx is planning to launch Tether (USDT) futures trading, offering a linear futures contract with leverage of up to 100x. According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Oct. 29, the contract will have daily settlement and offers supported pairs with Bitcoin (BTC), EOS, Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), XRP, Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Tron (TRX). Stablecoin-based derivatives can simplify trading OKEx argues that offering stablecoin-based derivatives contracts will offer a simpler and more efficient means for traders to navigate the market and calculate risks. A USDT-based derivative, …

Stablecoin Tether (USDT) is gaining popularity as a payment method, with some analysts seeing it catching up with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). As Bloomberg reported on Oct. 25, cryptocurrency payments processor CoinPayments registered the rapid increasing of popularity of Tether — a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to a United States dollar — as a means of payment. On the site, which has a 2.4 million user base, Tether currently accounts for 30% of volume, which is 30 times more than a year ago. Tether undermines Ether’s leadership? Bitcoin application as a means of payment has seen a nearly 60% drop …

The amount of Tether (USDT) tokens issued on the Tron (TRX) blockchain now accounts for nearly 12% of all USDT tokens. 350 million to 450 million in one day Launched in mid-April 2019, TRC20-based USDT has hit a total supply of over 490 million tokens on Oct. 25, which now makes up almost 12% of the 4.1 million Tether tokens currently in circulation, according to data on Tronscan. TRC20-based USDT on Tronscan The new total supply milestone resulted following the addition of 100 million new TRC20-based USDT tokens, as the Tron Foundation confirmed on Oct. 25. More 40 million USDT …

Singapore-based crypto exchange Huobi will launch a fiat gateway for the Turkish lira in late 2019. Huobi’s fiat onramp for lira will be the first fiat gateway launched by a global exchange, Huobi Global claimed during the opening event at the Eurasia Blockchain Summit on Oct. 18. During the inaugural event hosted by Huobi Global, the company also revealed more information about its expansion into Turkey. Specifically, Huobi unveiled the successful establishment of a local team, localized language option, mobile application, exclusive trading fees as well as a detailed strategy for Huobi Turkey. By launching the gateway, Huobi will enable …

At the start of October, New York-based legal firm Roche Freedman filed a new class-action lawsuit against stablecoin firm Tether and digital currency exchange Bitfinex. The case accuses the aforementioned entities of manipulating the market by using a host of sophisticated schemes that involved fraud, pump-and-dump schemes, as well as certain money laundering-related ploys. As a result of this legal drama, the USDT/BTC trade pair has witnessed a substantial decline in its market value (around 10% as of press time). USDT/BTC price over the last seven days As per the lawsuit, the legal team over at Roche Freedman has argued …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has launched peer-to-peer trading for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT) against the Chinese yuan (CNY). In an announcement published on Oct. 9, the exchange revealed that the service will be initially available to Android users who have had Binance accounts registered for at least 30 days. The exchange states that users should update their Binance Android app to the latest version in order to gain access to the new service and that it will slowly roll out support for iOS and web interfaces in future. P2P functionality to expand Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has …

A New York-based legal firm has filed a lawsuit against Tether and Bitfinex, accusing them of cryptocurrency market manipulation. “Largest bubble in history” Roche Freedman filed a class-action suit alleging that the stablecoin firm and affiliated crypto exchange have been involved in defrauding investors, manipulating markets and concealing illicit proceeds, the firm’s founding partner Kyle Roche tweeted on Oct. 7. In the tweet, Roche accused Tether and Bitfinex of creating the “largest bubble in history.” Filed on Oct. 6, the complaint document states that Bitfinex and Tether primarily accomplished a “sophisticated scheme” involving “part-fraud, part-pump-and-dump, and part-money laundering.” Suit alleges …

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in conjunction with EOSFinex, its decentralized trading platform, have announced that they had successfully completed a “chainswap” to convert $5 million worth of Tether (USDT) stablecoins onto the EOS blockchain protocol. According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Oct. 5, this way the companies aim to “provide the EOS DApp ecosystem with a stable and liquid store of value to reduce the risks pertaining to digital assets' volatility.” Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino added: “Promising projects aren’t getting the light of day with current congestion and volatility issues on other chains, and that is why there’s …

Stablecoins attempt to be fiat currencies among cryptos. They can be a medium of exchange, a means of storing value and a unit of account. Unlike other digital coins, stablecoins are tied to some kind of stable asset — such as the United States dollar, euro or even gold. Linking to such assets confirms the coin’s stability and mitigating the volatility of cryptocurrencies. Related: Stablecoins Explained With this type of a token, an equal amount of fiat currency should be stored by the issuing company to back the value of the token. The owner of this token should be able …

Algo Capital, an investment arm of United States-based blockchain firm Algorand, has lost roughly $1–2 million in Tether (USDT) stablecoins and Algorand (ALGO) tokens after its CTO Pablo Yabo’s mobile phone was compromised. The breach allowed hackers to gain access to Yabo-managed Algo hot wallet, a source familiar with the matter told Coindesk on Oct. 5. The total amount of damages was reported in an email by the company’s CEO David Garcia. He confirmed the security breach and claimed that the firm passed the details of the incident to its limited partners, according to the article. Full reimbursement in 20 …