Crazy Cryptocurrency Times: Tether Gets a Subpoena, AriseBank Gets Raided, Facebook to Block Cryptocurrency Ads
Tether
(via decentmemes by @netuoso)
I don't often do breaking news stories, but sometimes there's just so much going on at once, I can't look away.
First off, if you're on Bitfinex or you're holding Tether, you might want to consider bitUSD (that link lets them know I sent you).
Bloomberg: U.S. Regulators Subpoena Crypto Exchange Bitfinex, Tether
Big deal? No big deal?
"We routinely receive legal process from law enforcement agents and regulators conducting investigations," Bitfinex and Tether said Tuesday in an emailed statement. "It is our policy not to comment on any such requests."
I guess that depends on who you ask. @Bitfinexed has been talking about this non-stop for quite some time:
With the auditor relationship dissolved and a subpoena coming in, it's not looking good for Tether. Maybe we should keep this stable token SBD conversation going after all?
Update: WOW! That's just shady. Bloomberg changed "last week" to "Dec. 6" as far as when the subpoenas were sent, and they didn't even list a correction at the end of the article.
AriseBank
I've been watching this one from the sidelines for a while now, reading through Reddit threads like this, Tweets like this, hearing questions about the history of the leadership team, the "picture of the office" (which may have not been real), and concerns over the Github repo and how they may have illegally removed some licenses.
Things got really interesting when their website went down, and their BitShares account was emptied.
Seems they pissed off the wrong people with this letter:
Their "PR News Wire" correction press release wasn't enough to prevent them from being raided by the government: SEC Halts Alleged Initial Coin Offering Scam
What's interesting about this whole story, in my mind, is how nicely it plays into the narrative of those (much like myself) who think everything the government does is always bad. If AriseBank is a scam, they can point fingers at the government being the bad guy. What's the real truth? Will we ever know? Now that the guys with guns are involved, probably not.
No More Facebook Crypto Ads!
When so many things happen all at once, it makes me wonder if there's a coordinated effort going on. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook (who I blogged about recently) are shutting down cryptocurrency ads.
According to recode.net, Facebook is banning all ads promoting cryptocurrencies — including bitcoin and ICOs.
What I thought was so funny about this was what I saw while reading the article:
Now that, ladies and gentleman, is called irony. The very "meme" advertisement they are discussing shows up in their own article. I'm so thankful there are no ads on Steemit. :)
So what does all this mean? Are the cryptocurrency markets going to crash?
I don't know, but I have given some thoughts before: The Big Question: Should You Sell or Hold During a Market Correction
Either way, it's an exciting day in cryptocurrency, just like every other day.
I'm enjoying the drama from a far while setting up my SmartCash Nodes. Have you seen these return potentials?
$1,200+ in the first month? That's just crazy. I expect more nodes will come online (we're approaching 5,000 already) and/or the price will have to come down or... something. It just seems so unreal. See my last post on SmartNodes for more.
I hope you're having an amazing day!
sbd backed by steem
Apart from informing me of details I did not know about Arise, I only needed the popcorn while reading your post hehe. Another news of the day (I found out today) is the plagiarism of the smartlands logo copying the logo of evergreenland, curious lol
It seems that a few days of rock & roll are coming in the cryptounivers
There does seem to collaborated efforts to bring down crypto with all these negative news coming at once. You make a good point that I did not even think about is that steemit has no ads. This makes it decentralized versus platforms like facebook and youtube earn their living through advertisement. Steemit earns it value through content.
Regarding holding long or selling now if crypto market falls my opinion is hold long on the coins that I believe in. Look at the real world financial crisis of 2008-09. The sad and gloom days are over and many stocks back then are multiple. Same goes for crypto. Even if every crypto falls to near zero we are not going to see demand dry up. The fact that there are so many believers in cryptos versus 10 years ago I highly doubt the many big market cap coins are going to fall hard any time soon. I could be wrong but can't always time the market. Thanks.
Yep. Buy the dip, as they say. That said, they never really fixed anything after the 2008-09 crisis other than going from bank bailout to potential bank bail-in. Things could get ugly in the financial world. I'm quite thankful to be diversified in cryptocurrency.
After the last crash, I promised myself, that before the next, I will move my EOS to bitUSD and go back into EOS when markets go up again. ....and I missed it again!^^
The thing is, with a volume this low as the DEX @ bitshares with only a trade happening every 10 minutes or so, it´s no option for quick decisions and larger stacks.
How do you use the bitShares DEX?
I've been using BitCNY for that, huge volume there.
Thanks! I´ll have a look into that!
It's frustrating, for sure. I'd really love to see a lot more volume on the DEX. It's a chicken and egg problem. If we had more volume, more people would trade on a decentralized exchange. Until the volume is there, we can't make quick moves.
Absolutely right - the smartcash coins are made for these quick dip situations in my opinion, but this way I guess there is no way to hide and we have to hodl through the valley - luckily I have reduced my portfolio to mainly EOS and STEEM and if not the whole crypto market collapses, they will soon rise again
I strongly agree my Friend! Binance Lists Steem my Friends! HOORAY! It is going to be a phenomenal year for Steem and the Great Steemit Community! It is so well deserved! The Steemit Community is so very helpful and kind! All the best! Positive Energy! Great Karma! Your Friend @extraterrestrial :)
wohoooo Such excitement! Such Love! 😀Yeah - I missed the announcement from Binance today and sold some EOS for Ether and transferred the Ether to Bittrex, to exchange it for BTC and then buy STEEM. 🤔
I could have done it easier as it seems 😂
Hahah... nice.
Thanks for the update. Lot going on and it could well be coordinated. We might be about to reach peak-FUD.
"...if you're on Bitfinex or you're holding Tether, you might want to consider
bitUSD" That really should read STEEM DOLLAR.....oops, wait.....what was that bit about opportunity cost again? LOLHeheh. I know, right? Oh well. People like high payouts and immediate gratification. Give the people what they want, right? Let them eat cake!
As an American, I had to get out of Bitfinex last october. I was mad, as I was really new to crypto (I am really still new and only get about half of what is going on at any one point, just to be honest.) I though, "Oh, good, another moment when being American is the short end of the stick the raw deal."
I set up my Bittrex but I was upset as I had bought a bunch of IOTA and could not transfer it, as they don't have it on BITTREX so I was very sad. This, however, taught me how to use a wallet for storage on my comp (and back up on two sticks, one of which is also in a lock box with some loved gold coins)
I now have Binnance, which does have IOTA and I also have some Tron on there (don't laugh, it might go up).
Anyway, I am always curious about the story the mainstream world is giving about Crypto compared to what I can piece together from alternative news and what I can get my hands on to read online (and on Steemit of course) and don't really know where the 'truth' of it all really is, most likely an amalgam of those two positions maybe.
So, as a fellow (new) Steemian, who is mostly an artist and pseudo homesteader, I try to be a 'crypto newb' as much as I can and try to understand the Brave New World. I am glad I found you, as now I can add you to the list of people who obviously know what they are talking about, or at least more than I know (though that is very little) so will be checking in with you and home to garner more knowledge as I fumble my way through this new crypto world.
Go steemit!
I hope I can help you. Check out the videos I did available at understandingblockchainfreedom.com which may be a good start, though it sounds like you're already well on your way.
Thank you, will do!
I really hope arisebank do not turn into a scam. Some of these ICO looks real and convincing to get into them, but many are just mask covering the scam in them.
Holding crypto might be a good option, but one might have to hold for a long time with the way things are going.
Smartnodes for the win! Smartman. Just about 8 more hours until they come online! Great article, Following!
There will be rise and falls and in these early days of cryptocurrencies there will be lots of high mountains and deep valleys with that.
Great update! With news like these keep us on our toes so we are alert and not just sleeping not knowing what's eating us or what...
And markets have ups and downs and that is scary but good for many reasons. Stability is desirable but maybe counterproductive. Upvoted.
Good thing for stability is that it is predictable and that you can set your plans. But for big opportunities it should be the ups and downs market like today...