Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency offering investors price stability. The most popular stablecoins are those backed by the United States dollar — the world’s leading reserve currency. Others are less popular and not widely used, so many may not have heard of alternatives if they haven’t searched for them. According to data from the International Monetary Fund, the euro is the world’s second most widely held reserve currency, behind the U.S. dollar and ahead of the Chinese yuan. The euro is the official currency of the eurozone, comprising 20 of 27 member states of the European Union (EU), with …

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy and stablecoin issuer Tether have become the latest two firms to publicly deny any meaningful exposure to Silvergate Bank. The news comes as Silvergate announced on Mar. 1 that it would postpone the filing of its annual 10-K financial report, which has many fearing the cryptocurrency bank may be on the brink of a bankruptcy filing. This led MicroStrategy — which holds over 130,000 Bitcoin (BTC) — to confirm that its BTC collateral is not custodied with Silvergate. The Michael Saylor-founded firm added that it will not need to pay back a loan from Silvergate until …

Ukraine has received over $70 million in the form of cryptocurrencies since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, providing the nation with military equipment and humanitarian assistance. The figures came from a Feb. 24 report by blockchain data platform Chainalysis, which found the majority of the funds to have come in the form of Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC). ETH donors led the way with $28.9 million given, while donors of BTC and Tether (USDT) chipped in $22.8 million and $11.59 million respectively. Donations have also come in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs), such as UkraineDAO’s auction of a …

Only days after reports of United States regulatory scrutiny of Paxos and Binance USD (BUSD), cryptocurrency exchange Binance has minted nearly $50 million worth of TrueUSD (TUSD). The transaction took place on Feb. 16, according to data from Etherscan, and also comes two days after Binance CEO Chanpeng 'CZ' Zhao said in a Feb. 14 Twitter Spaces that Binance would look to “diversify” its stablecoin holdings away from BUSD. We're live! Tune-in to our Twitter Space AMA with @cz_binance below https://t.co/bXIztCKdry — Binance (@binance) February 14, 2023 Despite minting nearly $50 million in TUSD from the TrustToken platform’s smart contract …

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the financial regulator funded by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), is pushing international regulations for decentralized finance (DeFi). The FSB on Feb. 16 issued a report on the financial stability risks of DeFi, highlighting major vulnerabilities, transmission channels and the evolution of DeFi. Despite providing many “novel” services, DeFi “does not differ substantially” from traditional finance (TradFi) in its functions, the authority said in the report. By trying to replicate some functions of TradFi, DeFi increases potential vulnerabilities due to the use of novel technologies, the high degree of ecosystem interlinkages and the lack …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants to sue Paxos for issuing and listing stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD) to the benefit of its top-rival stablecoin Tether (USDT), whose market capitalization has risen to multi-month highs. BUSD market cap drops by $2 billion The SEC asserts that BUSD, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, is a security, noting that Paxos has violated investor protection laws by white-labeling it. Related: Paxos ‘categorically disagrees’ with the SEC that BUSD is a security Since Feb. 13 when the news broke, the BUSD market cap has lost roughly $2 billion, down to around $14 billion as …

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Journal reported that financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald is helping Tether oversee a $39 billion bond portfolio comprised of United States Treasury securities. The report indicated that some firms on Wall Street are willing to support crypto service providers despite ongoing regularity concerns facing the industry. Founded in 1945, Cantor Fitzgerald specializes in investment banking services, including institutional equity and fixed-income sales. The company claims to employ over 12,000 people. Beyond helping to “manage” a portion of Tether’s portfolio, Cantor Fitzgerald’s specific involvement with the stablecoin issuer wasn’t spelled out in the Journal’s …

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market value, has completed reserves attestation by major global accounting firm BDO. The stablecoin firm released BDO’s assurance opinion on Feb. 9, which re-affirms the accuracy of Tether’s consolidated reserves report (CRR) as of Dec. 31, 2022. The CRR shows that Tether’s consolidated assets amount to at least $67 billion, exceeding consolidated liabilities of $66 billion, with excess reserves equaling at least $960 million. In addition to reducing its secured loans as committed, the report also shows that Tether ended 2022 with zero commercial paper. “Our opinion is limited solely to …

A group of four men controlled 86% of stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings Limited as of 2018, according to documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal in connection with United States authorities investigations. New York Attorney General and Commodity Futures Trading Commission probes into Tether in 2021 exposed its previously unknown ownership structure. The company is the issuer of Tether (USDT), the world's largest stablecoin with $68 billion in circulation, according to CoinMarketCap. According to the documents, Tether was built by the joint efforts of ex-plastic surgeon Giancarlo Devasini and former child actor and crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce. In September 2014, …

Stablecoins have been under much scrutiny after the implosion of the third-largest stablecoin by market cap, TerraUSD (UST), in May 2022. The UST saga led to a lot of skepticism that caused consumers to question the safety of stablecoins. In the seventh episode of Hashing It Out, Cointelegraph's Elisha Owusu Akyaw (GhCryptoGuy) interviewed Paolo Ardoino, Tether's chief technology officer, about how stablecoins work alongside a discussion on frequently asked questions about stable tokens. Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) rocked the boats of stablecoin issuers after the third most popular stablecoin, TerraUSD, depegged in 2022. Tether was one of such issuers …

Bitcoin's (BTC) price has been trading above $22,500 for 12 days. Of course, this situation can change even if Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell issues positive statements about the economy in today’s post-FOMC presser. Even if the decision matches the market consensus, the post-meeting statement should be investors' primary area of focus. Specific areas to focus on would be clues for the next meeting in March. Troubling news for the largest stablecoin Tether (USDT), could also cause a meaningful impact after a Celsius bankruptcy examiner report showed that "Tether's exposure eventually grew to over $2 billion" in Sep. 2021. However, …

Tether (USDT) — the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization — has never received any loan from the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, according to the chief technology officer. Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether and Bitfinex crypto exchange, took to Twitter on Jan. 31 to announce that Tether has “never borrowed from Celsius.” The tweet came in response to the Celsius bankruptcy examiner report, which allegedly mistakenly implied that Tether was among Celsius’ borrowers alongside firms like Three Arrows Capital, which borrowed $75 million from the firm. Released on Jan. 31, the examiner report mentioned that “Celsius’s loans to Tether were …