Two major crypto exchanges — Singapore-headquartered Huobi Global and Malta-based OKEx — have announced their support for the Tron-based version of stablecoin Tether. The developments were announced in two official announcements, both published on March 21. In early March, blockchain protocol Tron (TRX) and Tether, issuer of stalwart stablecoins USDT and EURT, announced their partnership to issue a TRC-20-based USDT — a term that indicates adherence to a technical token standard supported by the Tron blockchain. The new token is designed to be interoperable with all Tron-based protocols and decentralized applications to improve liquidity in the ecosystem. In their respective …

Top Stories This Week U.S. District Attorney Charges OneCoin Founders With “Billions” in Alleged Fraud The founders of international cryptocurrency pyramid scheme OneCoin have been charged by a United States district attorney. Both Konstantin Ignatov and his sister Ruja Ignatova were reportedly arrested on March 6 in Los Angeles after being accused of “wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering offenses” after luring investors into putting billions of dollars into the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency. The crypto organization — established in 2014 and based in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria — works as a marketing network in which members receive commissions …

Developers behind stablecoin Tether (USDT) have drawn scrutiny today, March 14, after social media users noticed they had removed previous claims that the altcoin was fully backed by United States dollars. Tether, which has faced various publicity hurdles over the transparency of its holdings, had de facto guaranteed that each of its USDT tokens had an equivalent 1 USD in the bank. Intended as the opposite to fractional reserve banking, as Cointelegraph reported in December last year, documents had further confirmed the validity of Tether’s backing claims. Now, however, a new update, date unknown, to its website suggests USD holdings …

A new partnership between stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD) and accounting firm Armanino purportedly allows traders to conduct instant audits of the token’s backing. The news was announced by TrueUSD in a blog post on Mar. 5. The dashboard developed by Armanino purportedly enables traders to monitor TrueUSD token balances and collateralized funds. “Armanino connects directly to third-party escrow accounts holding the U.S. dollars that collateralize TrueUSD tokens, and runs their own ETH nodes to ensure accurate TUSD token supply,” the post details. Rafael Cosman, Co-founder and Head of Engineering and Product at TrustToken, said that “with real-time confirmation of funds provided …

Blockchain protocol Tron (TRX) and Tether, issuer of stablecoin USDT, have announced a partnership to introduce USDT to the Tron network by the second quarter of 2019. The news was shared with Cointelegraph in an email on March 4. The forthcoming TRC20-based USDT — a term that indicates adherence to a technical token standard supported by the Tron blockchain — will be interoperable with all Tron-based protocols and decentralized applications (DApps), and allow for the transaction and exchange of fiat-pegged coins across the blockchain. The USDT, which launched in 2014, has traditionally facilitated frictionless fiat on- and off-ramping to the …

Huobi Global crypto exchange has launched support for the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain-based version of USD-pegged stablecoin, Tether (USDT), according to a press release published on Feb. 27. Starting today, Huobi will offer deposit and withdrawal services for major stablecoin Tether in both its original Bitcoin (BTC)-based Omni Layer Protocol and its more recently launched ERC-20 token form, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain. Launched in 2014, Tether aims to allow users to trade and transact traditional fiat currencies on the blockchain. Tether has two tokens, USDT and EURT, purportedly pegged 1:1 to fiat currencies, USD and the euro, respectively. …

Monday, Feb. 25: cryptocurrencies are today seeing a blood-red market rout, with virtually all of the top 20 coins posting losses of between 7 and 17 percent, as data from Coin360 shows. Market visualization by Coin360 Top cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) is down a round 8 percent on the day and is trading around $3,836 to press time, according to CoinMarketCap data. Today’s crash is the second day the coin — and wider market — is reporting losses, with Bitcoin having yesterday tumbled from an intraday high of $4,210 to around $3,800. The sharp downturn has squeezed the cryptocurrency’s gains on …

Top five Cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has launched support for Thai baht-crypto trading on its client-to-client (C2C) platform, a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 14 reveals. According to the press release, currently only Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) can be traded with the Thai baht on the exchange’s peer-to-peer platform. The exchange first announced that it would be adding support for the fiat currency in a post on Jan. 23. The post was also dedicated to recruiting merchants for the new market. In the same press release, the crypto exchange also announced that it had …

Phillip Potter, co-founder of Tether (USDT) and former Chief Strategy Officer of affiliate crypto exchange Bitfinex, has joined the advisory board of a new stablecoin clearing house project, Stablehouse.io. The news was shared with Cointelegraph in a press release on Feb. 5. Stablehouse.io, currently under development by crypto finance company XBTO, aims to act as a central clearing counterparty (CCP) for stablecoins — a type of crypto asset designed to experience less price volatility, either by being notionally fiat-collateralized or via an algorithmic peg. The clearing house will charge investors a fixed fee in exchange for acting as a centralized …

Huobi.com, the United States-based partner of Singapore-headquartered crypto exchange Huobi, is launching fiat-crypto trading services, with initial support for three USD-crypto trading pairs. The development was revealed in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 5. Huobi.com is operated by HBUS, which launched as a strategic partner of Huobi Group — operator of the flagship Huobi Global crypto exchange — via a newly created San Francisco-based company “HBUS Holdco, Inc.” last June. Following a rebranding campaign and adoption of the Huobi brand name, HBUS.com migrated to Huobi.com this January. Huobi.com’s expansion beyond crypto-crypto transactions comes as other leading crypto …

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has introduced margin trading for stablecoin Tether (USDT), according to a blog post published Dec. 21. Bitfinex has launched margin trading for the USDT/USD pair, which would purportedly lead to more efficient price discovery and enable users to hedge the exposure taken on stablecoins. Along with a dedicated lending market, USDT will be available as collateral for margin positions, the post further reads. While stablecoin margin trading is currently limited to USDT/USD, the exchange is planning to introduce margin trading for some other stablecoin pairings once sufficient liquidity is reached. Earlier in December, Bitfinex and …

Cryptocurrency stablecoin Tether (USDT) really does have fiat reserves equal to the value of tokens in circulation, Bloomberg claimed in a report today, Dec. 18. Citing “bank statements” it had “reviewed,” the publication became the latest source to add fuel to the controversy surrounding Tether, which has raged online since a series of legal tussles and banking reshuffles began last year. According to the statements, Tether, which issues and notionally backs up each unit of USDT with $1, had a combined fiat bank balance equal to or even higher than circulating USDT from September 2017 to July 2018, the latest …