A paper published by a professor of finance,John Griffin, and a graduate student Amin Shams, showed on Wednesday that the rise in prices of Bitcoin and other mainstream cryptocurrencies in 2017 was not driven by the real needs of investors. It is manipulated by several major players to a large extent, such as Tether and Bitfinex.
What is a tether? Tether is a token that is considered linked to the value of the US dollar and is issued in large numbers by the exchange's Bitfinex. It acts as an exchange intermediary in the circulation of virtual currency and can be used to redeem various currencies, such as ripple, qtum and so on.
The price of Bitcoin dropped by 5% after the publication of the paper, close to the lowest point of the year. Compared with the highs touched at the end of last year, the current price of Bitcoin has fallen by more than 65%.
John Griffin and Amin Shams, by analyzing Tether's circulation, discovered half of the reasons for the rise in bitcoin prices in 2017.
John Griffin and Amin Shams, by analyzing Tether's circulation, discovered half of the reasons for the rise in bitcoin prices in 2017. They found that usually within a few hours after Bitcoin prices fell, Tether would flow into several other exchanges. During this period, other mainstream cryptocurrencies (such as Ether and Zcash) that can be purchased with Tether, and the value growth rate of them even exceeds Bitcoin.
During this period, the price of these mainstream cryptocurrencies will grow faster than on Tether's exchanges. When the exchange's Bitfinex stopped issuing new Tethers this year, this model did not happen again.
During this period, compared to those exchanges which don;t accepts Tether, the price of these mainstream cryptocurrencies will grow faster than on the exchanges that accepts Tether. When the exchange's Bitfinex stopped issuing new Tethers this year, this model did not happen again.
Bitfinex executives had previously denied that the exchange involved any manipulation. The company said on Wednesday that it has never participated in "any type" of market or price manipulation. Bitfinex CEO Jan Ludovicus van der Velde once stated that these issues cannot be used to support the price of Bitcoin or any other coin/token on Bitfinex.
Philip Gradwell, chief economist at blockchain data company Chainalysis, said the study "seems credible." He also pointed out that to fully understand these patterns requires more analysis.
Mr. Griffin had previously written that there are frauds in several other financial markets. In a paper published in 2016, he stated that a financial contract related to financial market volatility (VIX) was manipulated.
Christian Catalini, an MIT professor, said that community users have been keeping an eye on the relationship between Tether and Bitcoin prices for several months. It is a pleasure to see whether academic research has conducted causal assessments of whether or not the market has been manipulated.
In addition to this paper, some phenomenons indicate that the over-issuance of tether is closely related to the rising of bitcoin price. As after usdt was over issued each time, the price of Bitcoin and some mainstream currencies will increase in a short period of time. This is really suspicious.
What do you think of Tether's suspected price manipulation of Bitcoin behind the scenes? Where has Tether ever been caught in the oversupply crisis? Will tether price be affected as investors are increasingly skeptical about tether, Can Tether (USDT) hold its price at $1 in these storms?