Instability in Stable Coins

Good evening, I'm Pete Rizzo, and this is late confirmation from Coin Desk, bringing

you the top stories from October 16th. Also on today's show, an announcement from troubled

crypto exchange Bitfinex and an innovative new way to unite crypto exchanges.

But first, the market's largest and oldest stable coin, Tether, wasn't the only crypto asset to rise or fall below its $1 value this week.

On the heels of Tethers decline Monday, the competing Gemini dollar soared above a dollar

to a high of $1.19 Tuesday.

Released in September, the stable coin is different from Tether in one key way.

It's issued by Gemini, the New York cryptocurrency exchange, backed by investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and the company has notably received approval from the New York Department

of Financial Services to list and issue the dollar-peg token.

At the time, it was stated that GUSD would provide liquidity for traders who wish to avoid delays when trading cryptocurrencies

for government monies. No statement has been announced from Gemini as to the reason for the issue

at this time. Speaking of Tether, Bitfinex, the exchange long most associated with it, also made a notable

announcement Tuesday. In the early morning U.S. hours, the crypto exchange announced a new process

for depositing fiat currency, a move that came after the platform halted services in recent days.

In this new process, each user will only be allowed deposits of $10,000 and more,

and for each new deposit, there will be a 48-hour account verification period, followed by a

six-to-10-day period in which the deposit could go through. Despite the announcement, the company

faced a trying time with users on Monday, as complaints rolled in asserting the exchange had blocked the

withdrawal of fiat currency, a move that stirred the specter of past crypto exchange collapses.

But the company did not acknowledge these delays, saying in a post that all withdrawals were

processed, quote, as usual, without the slightest interference, and quote.

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