{"id":4556,"date":"2018-01-30T21:39:21","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T21:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=4556"},"modified":"2018-01-31T08:27:06","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T08:27:06","slug":"news-bitfinex-tether-subpoena-arisebank-vs-sec-facebook-bans-crypto-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/01\/30\/news-bitfinex-tether-subpoena-arisebank-vs-sec-facebook-bans-crypto-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"News: Bitfinex\/Tether subpoena, AriseBank vs SEC, Facebook bans crypto ads"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>The Bitcoin price dipped below $10,000 around 1200 UTC today, and at 1752 UTC Bloomberg published that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-01-30\/crypto-exchange-bitfinex-tether-said-to-get-subpoenaed-by-cftc\">Bitfinex\/Tether got subpoenaed by the CFTC<\/a> on 6 December, &#8220;according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.&#8221; This subpoena may be why Chris Ellis&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/12\/16\/news-bitfinex-warrant-canary-disappears-hyperledger-loses-members-kik-vs-cryptokitties\/\">warrant canary disappeared<\/a> around that time, and he <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MrChrisEllis\">hasn&#8217;t tweeted since.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Frank Chung&#8217;s News.com.au <a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.com.au\/finance\/money\/investing\/without-this-scam-bitcoin-price-would-collapse-fears-grow-over-tether-printing-press-as-auditors-part-ways\/news-story\/308503ab61f82d320e92847a0b59a23b\">story on Tether<\/a> yesterday is an excellent and comprehensive mainstream press article on the Bitcoin and Tether situation \u2014 and has comments from me and a link to Sunday&#8217;s post.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The USDT\/USD trading pair on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kraken.com\/charts\">Kraken<\/a> (go to top right, select &#8220;USDT\/USD&#8221;) now seems to be what the world has decided is the price discovery mechanism for tethers, and a lot more buy orders have shown up <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/01\/28\/how-to-read-a-crypto-market-depth-chart-and-why-people-went-holy-crap-at-the-overnight-tether-chart\/\">since Sunday.<\/a> If someone \u2014 presumably Tether \u2014 is market-making properly, with suitably close and large buy and sell walls, then good \u2014 that\u2019s how a peg is <i>supposed<\/i> to work. At 2003 UTC today, one USDT was $0.9830, and there was a $1m wall at $0.9811. GDAX and Bitfinex prices for Bitcoin are closer today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/01\/30\/news-bitfinex-tether-subpoena-arisebank-vs-sec-facebook-bans-crypto-ads\/kraken-usdt-usd-2018-01-30-20-02-48\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4583\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4583\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kraken-USDT-USD-2018-01-30-20-02-48.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"70%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kraken-USDT-USD-2018-01-30-20-02-48.png 552w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kraken-USDT-USD-2018-01-30-20-02-48-271x300.png 271w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The SEC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/news\/press-release\/2018-8\">squashes AriseBank like a bug<\/a> \u2014 assets frozen, court-appointed receiver. &#8220;The SEC alleges that AriseBank <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/arisebank-announces-first-ever-acquisition-of-traditional-banks-by-a-crypto-platform-expects-ico-to-exceed-1b-due-to-popular-demand-300584461.html\">falsely stated<\/a> that it purchased an FDIC-insured bank which enabled it to offer customers FDIC-insured accounts and that it also offered customers the ability to obtain an AriseBank-branded VISA card to spend any of the 700-plus cryptocurrencies. AriseBank also allegedly omitted to disclose the criminal background of key executives.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Facebook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/business\/news\/new-ads-policy-improving-integrity-and-security-of-financial-product-and-services-ads\">bans crypto ads.<\/a> <i>At last.<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.recode.net\/2018\/1\/30\/16950926\/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-bans-crypto-advertising-bitcoin-james-altucher\">Recode<\/a> mentions <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/01\/19\/news-450m-tethers-this-week-bitconnect-shuts-down-gpu-miner-viruses-us-treasury-unbanking-the-banked-altcoin-fraud\/\">James Altucher<\/a> in their story&#8217;s URL.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/01\/30\/news-bitfinex-tether-subpoena-arisebank-vs-sec-facebook-bans-crypto-ads\/facebook-prohibited-financial-products-and-services\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4596\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4596\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/facebook-prohibited-financial-products-and-services.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/facebook-prohibited-financial-products-and-services.png 500w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/facebook-prohibited-financial-products-and-services-300x157.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How nuts is graphics card pricing? So nuts that it&#8217;s cheaper to buy a high-end pre-built system \u2014 Dell or whatever \u2014 just for the graphics card. Gamers discovered this first, miners are discovering it now. (No links, but I&#8217;ve seen multiple reports of people doing this.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Crypto captchas: <a href=\"https:\/\/np.reddit.com\/r\/assholedesign\/comments\/7tgeoj\/this_popup_threatening_to_mine_monero_on_my_phone\/\">prove you&#8217;re not a bot or I will mine Monero on your phone.<\/a> (Bots generally don&#8217;t run JavaScript \u2014 this is designed to catch out humans who&#8217;ve left the tab open in the background.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/01\/30\/news-bitfinex-tether-subpoena-arisebank-vs-sec-facebook-bans-crypto-ads\/monero-captcha\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4563\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4563\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/monero-captcha.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"70%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/monero-captcha.jpg 750w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/monero-captcha-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/monero-captcha-576x1024.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Is you takin&#8217; notes on a criminal f\u2014in&#8217; conspiracy?&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8220;No, I&#8217;m scripting <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jason\/status\/957025759565987840\">a video about it<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jason\/status\/957025759565987840<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The interview with me in Jungle.World (Germany) is now <a href=\"https:\/\/jungle.world\/artikel\/2018\/04\/bei-bitcoin-geht-es-weniger-um-technologie-als-um-psychologie\">free to read<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/translate.google.com\/translate?sl=auto&amp;tl=en&amp;js=y&amp;prev=_t&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fjungle.world%2Fartikel%2F2018%2F04%2Fbei-bitcoin-geht-es-weniger-um-technologie-als-um-psychologie&amp;edit-text=\">translation<\/a>). I&#8217;ll put my original answers in English up when the next issue is out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>January discount on <i>Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain<\/i> at <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2iWo4aa\">Kindle UK<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2zf7f0i\">Kindle US<\/a> only has today and tomorrow to go!<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fusipon\/status\/957367095548960768\">Twitter thread<\/a> by someone who read <em>Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain<\/em> and <em>Neoreaction a Basilisk<\/em> (<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2GsD7zz\">US<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2DNkVz7\">UK<\/a>) together, and discusses their similarities and differences. This is the review of my book that has <em>delighted<\/em> me most.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">this reaching its ultimate and absolutely hilarious form in tether, a central bank issuing fiat money to prop up the economy. The bitcoin project was set up to defeat a monster of unfreedom, and it turns out to create the same thing, but worse. That&#39;s basilisky.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; fusipon (@fusipon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fusipon\/status\/957369619072913408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 27, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">addendum: the most direct comparator to bitcoin in NRxaB is probably Yarvin&#39;s Urbit &#8211; even to the extent the creator is a gifted programmer, the result is a mess that solves problems nobody has save that they convince themselves so<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; fusipon (@fusipon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fusipon\/status\/957372786204446721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 27, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s raining buttcoins.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I like to imagine that Tether tried to pull that old high school trick where you need to get your parents to sign a note from you teacher that you&#39;re failing your class so you put another paper on top juuuust above the signature line except Tether&#39;s auditor tugged at the papers.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/957412599578091520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 28, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/antisymbiotic\/status\/957711908643188737<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And the cheapest way to get a good video card now? Buy a high-end pre-built PC and rip it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[443,12,38,167,444,105,445,33,39],"class_list":["post-4556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-arisebank","tag-attack-of-the-50-foot-blockchain","tag-bitfinex","tag-cftc","tag-facebook","tag-james-altucher","tag-neoreaction-a-basilisk","tag-sec","tag-tether"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4556"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4616,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4556\/revisions\/4616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}