A Bridge Called Tether

What you need to know today in crypto and beyond

April 23, 2021

Sponsored By:

If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.

Send feedback to daniel.kuhn@coindesk.com – we'd love to hear from you!

Today's must-reads

Top Shelf

TETHER ON COINBASE: Coinbase Pro is listing Tether’s USDT. Given Coinbase's gravitas as a public company, some see this as vindication for the controversial stablecoin, which has faced community and regulatory scrutiny over the makeup of its reserves. USDT was previously listed on the U.S.-based Kraken and Binance.US exchanges.

CONVERSIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS: Investment firm Bitwise Asset Management is filing to register its flagship crypto fund as a SEC reporting company, increasing the competitive pressure on Grayscale’s similarly regulated products. Meanwhile, the SEC is now officially reviewing three bitcoin ETFs applications. Charles Schwab also wants in on crypto, but is waiting for “regulatory clarity.”

CHOPPY WATERS: Bitcoin broke below $50,000 last night, hitting its lowest price in 48 days. The "kimchi premium" has dried out. Most altcoins have followed, notching double-digit declines, following news President Biden wants to increase the capital gains tax rate. Some analysts still see long-term bullish indicators for crypto. However, crypto lender Celsius asked clients to post crypto collateral “[d]ue to market conditions.”

RED REDEMPTION: A KGB officer in the Soviet Union, prominent banker in the post-Soviet Russia and out-of-favor millionaire under President Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lebedev is now moving into DeFi to take on the banks.

BAD EXCHANGE? The CEO of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex has gone missing, while users complain they are unable to access hundreds of million of dollars worth of their funds. The sketchy behavior comes a week after the country’s central bank announced it was banning the use of crypto for payments. Separately, South Korea authorities have seized $22 million worth of digital assets from suspected tax evaders.

– Daniel Kuhn

A message from Nexo

Your digital assets deserve a savings account in their BEST INTEREST. Leading crypto lender Nexo treats you, your crypto and your fiat to industry-best Crypto & Fiat services, featuring:

* Up to 12% interest on digital assets, paid out daily!

* Yields available on BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, XRP, XLM, EOS, TRX, LINK, BNB, PAXG, USDT, USDC, TUSD, PAX, DAI, HUSD, GBP and EUR.

* No minimum or maximum limits on funds deposited, offering infinite opportunities to earn.

* #ZeroFees on all transactions.

* Military-grade wallet security and top-tier insurance on all custodial assets with SOC 2 Type 2 certified crypto custodian BitGo.

Get started at nexo.io

Introducing Unlocked 101 at Consensus by CoinDesk 2021

New to crypto? Here's a crash course. Unlocked 101 is a free educational series of sessions designed to give you the tools to navigate crypto. Sessions will be hosted May 4–20 to prepare you for Consensus by CoinDesk 2021, our virtual big-tent event.

Register for Unlocked 101 this May.

Overheard on CoinDesk TV

Sound Bite

"My sense is that institutional investors ... get DeFi, [and] most of them are buying ETH as an index on DeFi."

– Kyle Samani of Multicoin Capital, on CoinDesk TV's "First Mover."

A message from CoinDesk

CoinDesk Research: Does Bitcoin Have an Energy Problem?

Is Bitcoin bad for the environment? This CoinDesk Research report looks at the data behind the most common critiques and shows that, while Bitcoin uses a lot of energy, the mix is evolving toward renewables. Bitcoin also incentivizes investment in clean energy sources, can convert pollution into value, and redistributes wasted power production. Download the free report.

What others are writing...

Off-Chain Signals

- D.K.

Putting the news in perspective

The Takeaway

A Bridge Called Tether

Once upon a time there was a bridge strung between two mountaintops. It was made of rope and wooden boards and creaked and wobbled in the wind, but every day the mountain people used it to cross the yawning chasm. They called it Tether.

“It could snap any time!” cawed the crows that regularly circled above their heads. While the people dismissed these shrill creatures as a nuisance, deep down many of them harbored a tinge of doubt. Yet, they continued to cross the bridge back and forth, often several times a day.

It was the most convenient way to get from one peak to the other. Alternatively, they could hike down one mountain, cross the Valley of the Banks and climb the other, but that would take days whereas crossing the bridge took an hour at most. It was not simply a matter of impatience; the people made their living by trading with their neighbors on the other mountain, and by the time they had completed the journey through the valley a trade opportunity might be gone.

Besides, nobody lived on the bridge. It was only used to travel from point A to point B. If lives were at risk, as the annoying birds kept warning, it was only for brief periods of time. The bridge had been there for years. It might not be there forever, but who was to say it would collapse on a given day?

Over time, new bridges between the mountains were constructed parallel to the Tether Bridge. These bridges were, by all appearances, far sturdier, made of steel and vouched for by the most respected engineers in the land. Meanwhile, the keepers of the Tether bridge struggled to find an engineer willing to even inspect it (until one day one came from a beautiful island far, far away).

Some of the mountain traders started crossing these new spans, known as USDC, GUSD and PAX. But the majority of them kept using Tether.

It turned out the proprietors of the new bridges stopped them at the edges, made them sign a journey book and searched all their pockets. “It is the law of the land,” the bridge keepers would say. “We cannot allow our bridges to be used by thieves or riffraff.” Occasionally, the bridge keepers would throw someone off their bridges mid-crossing, explaining they were ordered by the king of the valley.

By contrast, the keepers of the Tether bridge historically gave their patrons just a cursory pat-down at entry and exit (though they did get stricter over time and threw at least one suspected thief into the abyss). For most of the mountain people, the nerve-racking experience of crossing the old bridge was preferable to the indignities required to use the new ones.

One day, an old mountain man who had managed to strike it rich down in the valley constructed another, most unusual span. This one was perpendicular to the USDC and Tether bridges, connecting them.

Some of the mountain people took this as a sign the crows had been wrong all along. The man, after all, was respected among the engineers who inspected bridges, and the king had allowed him to amass his fortune. So if he was willing to have anything to do with Tether, maybe it was here to stay.

Even the white-knuckle travelers felt a tad more comfortable. Now, on an especially windy day, they have the option of switching bridges during the trip.

– Marc Hochstein

The Chaser...

ATTENTION: Scammers have been sending fraudulent emails with links to sites disguised to look like coindesk.com. If you are in doubt about a link, type https://www.coindesk.com directly into your browser; do not copy and paste. Remember, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

The Node

A newsletter from CoinDesk

See Previous Editions

Copyright © 2021 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.

250 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003, USA

You can manage your preferences here or unsubscribe from all CoinDesk email.