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carleverett | 5 years ago

Tether is using Deltec Bank and Trust in the Bahamas. Deltec's CEO actually did an interview where he responded to the Tether fraud claims: https://unchainedpodcast.com/is-tether-a-fraud-its-bank-says...

When Tether started, most financial institutions weren't open to working with cryptocurrency companies, but the fact that it's still the top stablecoin by value is troubling since there are plenty of better options now.

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FireBeyond|5 years ago

You mean this interview?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/l5m2my/gregory_pe...

See my previous comments, the Deltec Deputy CEO claims that he was simultaneously Professor of Finance in a Lebanon University, administering Swiss investment funds, oh and working for a company in Jacksonville FL. He gave his interview from his gaming setup, and talked all about seeing all the Tethers personally from their operations (Why? You're just their bank).

You're going to forgive me on being a little skeptical here.

Especially when his LinkedIn has him graduating HEC Lausanne in 2001 with a Masters in Science...

when he was fifteen...

Funnily enough, Deltec bank removed him from their website when this interview was published, then re-added them when people asked questions, and then arranged a very quick website complete "redesign" (I use that word lightly - this looks like a WordPress template that they've struggled to fill with any content whatsoever - most of the pages are effectively empty, many of the buttons to "learn more" are not linked to anywhere).

This is such a scam.

jboggan|5 years ago

And the Bahamas does annual reports on the total amount of reserves its banks hold, and the government numbers aren't close to what Tether claims to deposit in Deltec, even if Deltec were the only bank in the Bahamas.

FireBeyond|5 years ago

I'm sure it'll get me flagged as a naysayer, but this raises more questions than it answers (https://www.coindesk.com/tether-bank-deltec-stablecoin-reser...):

> "Every tether is backed by a reserve and their reserve is more than what is in circulation," said Gregory Pepin, Deltec Bank's deputy CEO.

What business does the bank have in auditing Tethers? Why would they care? They're just holding funds.

> “We can see it firsthand, so I can confirm that.”

That to me more reads like Deltec is heavily involved in the actual day-to-day operations at Bitfinex/Tether. Which wouldn't be surprising - after all, remember when Bitfinex and Tether were claimed to be entirely separate and independent entities.

It's a little bit of a stretch to say that Bitfinex has been able to get Deltec on board with keeping this all going by providing a "partnership" above and beyond the usual "banking relationship", but that's very much the vibe I get from all this, and as I said, to me, it just increases the sketchiness of everything.

Oh, and WTF, I watched the video of the interview with the "Deputy CEO" of Deltec Bank, self-described as a "50-year-old bank [whose] customers range from asset managers to high-net-worth individuals"

It's a damn "kid" who looks to be 30 at most, sitting in his gamer seat with red slashes in the black, wearing a Razer gaming headset.

He has almost no photos on the internet, his LinkedIn profile is full of multiple spelling errors ("Independance Weath Management"), who claims to be a Professor of Finance at a University in Lebanon (a year after graduating from a Lausanne University) while working for numerous Swiss funds, oh and in Jacksonville, Florida, simultaneously.

How the hell are people taking this seriously?!?

EDIT: He's 33.

So he apparently graduated with a Masters in Science from HEC Lausanne when he was FIFTEEN. I'm sorry, I'm crying now with laughter.

Sources:

- https://wallmine.com/nasdaq/tenx/officer/2087842/gregory-pep...

- https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/in/gregory-pepin-0a8...

ordinaryradical|5 years ago

People have already researched that the total volume in-out of Deltec and it could not be more than a fraction of Tether's printing meaning:

1) They aren't holding the money as USD 2) They aren't holding the money in the Bahamas—then where? 3) They are printing money without a corresponding asset aka Ponzi Scheme.