Following a blow from Binance, Tether swings back saying anyone who wants to exchange Tether for USD can - directly through them.

No comments
Binance has replaced the "USDT" symbol on their exchange - it no longer means Tether, but rather a symbol that represents their entire stablecoin market, a collection of multiple stablecoins.

Our readers were the first to see this coming, when an insider within one of the stablecoin projects leaked exclusive information with us regarding the discussions between their leadership and Binance (read that article here).

Well - it all turned out to be true, a new statement from Binance reads:

"Binance has renamed the USDT Market (USDT) to now be a combined Stablecoin Market (USDⓈ). This is to support more trading pairs with different stablecoins offered as a base pair.

We will make a further announcement soon on the exact pairs to be initially moved or added to this market.

Please note that USDⓈ is not a new stablecoin: it is the symbol of Binance's new stablecoin market."

What's interesting here is this at least appears on the surface to be a real jab at Tether, for the simple fact that "USDT" is their symbol, they trade under on every exchange where it's used - and Binance basically just said 'sorry, not anymore'.

But today - Tether just swung back.  Re-opening their "Direct redemption"portal that allows anyone to buy Tether using USD or Euro, and more importantly - exchange Tether for fiat currency.    In a statement Tether says:

"Due to the unexpected rush of new cryptocurrency traders over the last year, Tether grew at an unpredicted rate, quickly making the initial model (enabling direct redemption of Tether to fiat through its native platform) unsustainable. In this environment, it made sense to take the stress off growing pains by flexing the existing model to harness the established infrastructure and security of Bitfinex, which was built to withstand a much larger volume of customers. Those wishing to redeem could do so 1:1 via Bitfinex with whom we had a business to business relationship.

Against this backdrop and with alternative stablecoins entering the market, Tether has maintained its stablecoin market domination, but naturally differentiated, with heavy adoption amongst professional investors.

Now, thanks to stronger banking as a result of our new relationship with Deltec, Tether is able to return to its original vision of having a wallet for creating and redeeming directly on its own platform without having to rely on a third party. This update allows the immediate withdrawal of Tether to fiat (1:1), with the ability to acquire coming soon."

This is Tether saying "we have the money".  But as one person in a telegram channel i'm a member of stated "we'll see" because for many, the mistrust of Tether will continue, adding "they could be offering this knowing not everyone is going to exchange their Tether for USD at once. Smart way to look legit, but we still have no idea what their real USD reserves are".
------- 
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk


No comments