Major crypto exchange Kraken has issued a scathing response to a recent Bloomberg article about stable cryptocurrency Tether (USDT) allegedly “defying logic” on Kraken’s platform. The article in question, titled “Crypto coin Tether defies logic on Kraken’s market, raising red flags,” was published on Bloomberg June 29, with comments and analysis from several academics and Andrew Rennhack, a former professional poker player. Its authors allege that the price of Tether might be manipulated on Kraken, citing “oddly specific order sizes” and the fact that “huge trades move prices about the same as small ones.” According to Bloomberg, the trades that …

China-based cybersecurity firm SlowMist has confirmed that a recent double-spending vulnerability it found in Tether (USDT) is not inherent to the cryptocurrency itself. Instead, it is enabled by some crypto exchanges’ databases not strictly verifying the status of the “valid” parameter of incoming USDT transactions. SlowMist explained this in a comment to its own Tweet June 28. On June 28, SlowMist detected a vulnerability that allowed them to send USDT to a crypto exchange without correct field values on the transaction. Subsequently, the cybersecurity firm explained that the newly discovered vulnerability is not an issue of the Tether network, but …

Saturday, June 30: crypto markets are seeing a significant rebound after this week’s decline. All of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization are in the green with Cardano (ADA) being the biggest winner - up 18.6 percent over the past 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap. Market visualization from Coin360 Bitcoin is up around 8 percent over the 24 hour period, trading at $6,391 at press time. Bitcoin price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Bitcoin Price Index Ethereum (ETH) is currently at $457, with an increase of around 12 percent over the past 24 hours. Ethereum price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Ethereum Price …

Update, June 30: SlowMist has confirmed that the discovered double spending vulnerability is not inherent in Tether, but is instead a result of some crypto exchanges’ poor practices. Chinese private cybersecurity firm SlowMist has found a double-spending vulnerability in Tether (USDT) today, June 28. SlowMist states in a tweet that they were able to send USDT to an unnamed exchange without correct field values on the transaction. This means that individuals may be credited for tokens without actually having sent them, leading to a double spend. Following the tweet from SlowMist, a founder of OmniLayer, the platform on which USDT …

The crypto markets continue their slump today, June 26, with most of the coins on Coin360 seeing red. Market visualization from Coin360 Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around $6,205, down around 1 percent over a 24 hour period to press time. Bitcoin price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Bitcoin Price Index Stablecoin Tether’s release of 250 million tokens yesterday, June 25 had prompted some on Twitter to predict a price increase in Bitcoin, as Tether had been reportedly connected to Bitcoin price manipulation in 2017. Ethereum (ETH) is also slightly down, losing almost 5 percent over a 24 hour period and trading …

Stablecoin Tether (USDT), which is allegedly backed 1:1 by the US dollar, has issued 250 million more tokens today, June 25, according to data from Omni Explorer. At the end of March, Tether had released 300 million tokens, leading to a small price increase for Bitcoin (BTC). The move also was met with backlash from critics on Twitter about the controversy surrounding the stablecoin’s lack of an official public audit to confirm the legitimacy of its claims to be backed by fiat. More recently, Tether had made the news when a new study compiled by the University of Texas suggested …

Bloomberg Terminal, a paid financial data monitoring service, will now list crypto exchange Huobi's Cryptocurrency Index, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph today, June 21. Bloomberg Terminal will also list prices for nine crypto trading pairs, denominated in Tether (USDT), including Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Ripple (XRP), Dash, EOS, and ZCash. The Huobi 10 Index, designed by the Huobi Group, is calculated using asset classification and a weighted average method to track the performance of the top 10 traded digital assets on Huobi’s exchange. The press release notes that Bloomberg Terminal’s addition …

Tether’s (USDT) long-contested assertion that its digital currency is backed by the appropriate amount of dollar holdings has been seemingly confirmed, Bloomberg reports June 20. According to an interview with Tether’s general counsel Stuart Hoegner, law firm Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP had access to two of Tether’s bank accounts for weeks and released the amount of dollar holdings as of June 1, although not as part of an official audit. The bank accounts will not be named due to privacy concerns, Hoegner notes, adding that the firm had access to banks statements and employees, as well as contact with …

Yet further concerns surrounding the impact of Tether (USDT) and Bitcoin (BTC) futures on the leading cryptocurrency’s fortunes were raised on CNBC, Wednesday June 13th. As CNBC notes, Bitcoin futures have sunk 55 percent this year, reaching their lowest levels since February. Weighing in on the controversies surrounding allegations that Tether (USDT) is being used as a shorting mechanism by institutional players on the BTC futures markets, Brian Stutland, CIO of Equity Armor Investments, dismissed the idea as “far-fetched,” saying: “I know there’s a lot of talk out there about [BTC price] manipulation by some professor who has probably never …

U.S.-based crypto wallet and exchange Coinbase’s Index Fund is now open for large-scale investors, according to an official blog post published yesterday, June 13. The fund, whose creation was announced in March, is available only to U.S. resident accredited investors – those who have a net worth of more than $1 mln or an annual salary of more than $200,000 – who invest between $250,000 and $20 mln. The index includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), as well as Ethereum Classic (ETC), whose addition to Coinbase was announced on June 11. Coinbase’s blog post notes that …

Tether (USDT) has once again become the source of criticism after a new study blamed it for Bitcoin price manipulation in 2017, The New York Times reports Wednesday, June 13. A paper released June 13 by John M. Griffin and Amin Shams of the University of Texas suggests that transaction patterns show Tether was “used to provide price support and manipulate cryptocurrency prices.” Half of the Bitcoin price rise in December 2017, when the cryptocurrency reached all-time highs around $20,000, was explicitly due to Tether and issuer Bitfinex, the researchers claim. “Using algorithms to analyze the blockchain data, we find …

June 13: all of the top ten coins by market cap have fallen by between 9 and 14 percent over the 24-hour period, as Coinmarketcap data shows. Market visualization from Coin360 Bitcoin (BTC) has taken an over 11 percent negative hit, trading around $6,449 to press time, bringing its monthly losses to almost 25 percent. The leading cryptocurrency has now fallen below what some commentators consider to be an average BTC mining profitability threshold of $6,500. Robert Kelly told CNBC earlier today that this figure assumes that Bitcoin miners need to update their hardware almost every 18 months, bringing the …