Gregory Pepin, deputy CEO of Deltec Bank and Trust, responds to allegations in a blog post by the pseudonymous Crypto Anonymous, that Tether is a “highly probably fraud.” In this episode, he covers:

  • how Deltec accounts for its reserves, and why they didn’t show up on Crypto Anonymous’s blog post
  • where the dollars backing Tethers are held
  • how Tethers get created
  • where Tether Ltd. keeps its cash equivalents
  • why there’s more demand for trading with USDT than with USD partially because of the arbitrage opportunity between East and West 
  • how Tethers get created using Deltec
  • why USDT gets minted in very round numbers as opposed to very specific numbers that USDC is minted in
  • where the cash equivalents backing Tethers are held
  • what type of due diligence Deltec conducted when it took on Tether Ltd. as a customer
  • why the perception that Tether is unregulated compared to other stablecoins is false
  • what Deltec thinks about the New York Attorney General office’s investigation in to Tether
  • why Deltec has a “large position in bitcoin”



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Crypto.com: http://crypto.com

Episode links:

Gregory Pepin: https://twitter.com/dzrgreg

Deltec Bank: https://www.deltecbank.com/?locale=en

 

Crypto Anonymous’s Medium post: https://crypto-anonymous-2021.medium.com/the-bit-short-inside-cryptos-doomsday-machine-f8dcf78a64d3

Deltec having large position in bitcoin: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/91353/deltec-bitcoin-position-tether

Original video in which Deltec mentions its “large position in bitcoin”: https://www.deltecbank.com/2021/01/14/a-covid-year-in-review/

Deltec banking Tether: https://www.coindesk.com/deltec-chairman-says-tether-letter-on-bank-relationship-is-authentic

Tether not audited: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-review-claims-crypto-asset-fully-backed-theres-catch

Tether says it is fully backed: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-says-its-stablecoin-is-fully-backed-again

Tether current balances: https://wallet.tether.to/transparency?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=c035d054dd287020b16d6dbb4b70398ca7a99dcb-1611253376-0-AcOsT0Zqpd8Muzw5gnkSz6KKmTrN3WAssxGX8K-p_PkeZ2SUfW9EsAr-a2EkIojYzm5-3RA_1DHxpoK579d0YgtnxMYevlVRSS7RIAKh0sgk-ORzOZUDNgg_AvZjugdrxWVjTA9dCBf1hX4X83oU3-RTjQYn_qYukdRFJUq9a89BXyyDovL3bu4ohxSSVdworOR-cdxEiPURe4ZJrGIvuW3Ej2qJLJt3RDXfX6BfDANdpkVrU6O2KB4V0Or-HJjItS0uAu-L7KrTomXNv9anUv34_An8cH3VHYfB_OD-iyIvkgOh7RHd-Xafe-SJwPnUYg

What Tether is backed by: https://wallet.tether.to/transparency?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=c035d054dd287020b16d6dbb4b70398ca7a99dcb-1611253376-0-AcOsT0Zqpd8Muzw5gnkSz6KKmTrN3WAssxGX8K-p_PkeZ2SUfW9EsAr-a2EkIojYzm5-3RA_1DHxpoK579d0YgtnxMYevlVRSS7RIAKh0sgk-ORzOZUDNgg_AvZjugdrxWVjTA9dCBf1hX4X83oU3-RTjQYn_qYukdRFJUq9a89BXyyDovL3bu4ohxSSVdworOR-cdxEiPURe4ZJrGIvuW3Ej2qJLJt3RDXfX6BfDANdpkVrU6O2KB4V0Or-HJjItS0uAu-L7KrTomXNv9anUv34_An8cH3VHYfB_OD-iyIvkgOh7RHd-Xafe-SJwPnUYg

New York Attorney General’s office press release on investigation into iFinex: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/attorney-general-james-announces-court-order-against-crypto-currency-company

CoinDesk on NYAG investigation: https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-ny-prosecutors-tether-850-million-allege

Link to the Crypto News Recap:

https://unchainedpodcast.com/what-8-trillion-could-do-in-bitcoin/