There is evidence that Tether, a digital currency pegged to the US dollar, may have been used to manipulate the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to a research paper released by the University of Texas on Wednesday.
"Tether seems to be used both to stabilise and manipulate Bitcoin prices," said the paper's co-authors, professor John Griffin and doctoral student Amin Shams.
Critics of tether have raised concerns over the past year about whether Tether Limited actually holds US$1 (Dh3.67) in reserve for each tether issued, as it claims. More than $2.2 billion of Tether was issued between March 2017 and January 2018, according to the paper.
Regulators worldwide are increasing their scrutiny of cryptocurrency markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the US Department of Justice have been investigating whether Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices are being manipulated, Bloomberg reported last month.
In December, the CFTC sent subpoenas to Tether and Bitfinex, a popular cryptocurrency exchange that is affiliated with, and shares executives with, Tether. The reason for the subpoena was unclear.
Bitfinex denied that Tether issuances could be used to manipulate Bitcoin.
"[Neither] Bitfinex nor Tether is, or has ever, engaged in any sort of market or price manipulation," Bitfinex and Tether chief executive J L van der Velde said.
Bitcoin soared last year, peaking at nearly $20,000 in December, before the price collapsed. It was at $6,624.45 on Wednesday afternoon.
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The researchers found that Tether issuances rose last year during periods when the price of Bitcoin was dropping. When Bitcoin was rising, the same pattern could not be found.
Once issued, nearly all Tether was moved to Bitfinex and then shifted to other exchanges, where it was used to buy Bitcoin, propping up the price, the paper said.
The researchers used algorithms to analyse data from blockchains, the decentralised ledgers that underpin Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, between the beginning of March 2017 to the end of March 2018.
The periods with the largest flow of Tether accounted for 87 hours, or less than 1 per cent, of the data, but were associated with 50 per cent of Bitcoin's compounded return, and 64 per cent of the returns on six other large cryptocurrencies.
The researchers then did 10,000 simulations looking in each case at 87 random hours from the data and were unable to find similar results.
"Overall, our findings provide substantial support for the view that price manipulation may be behind substantial distortive effects in cryptocurrencies," they said.
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
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Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
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Real Betis v Sevilla, 10.45pm (UAE)
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
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High fever (40°C/104°F)
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Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
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Cory Sandhagen v Umar Nurmagomedov
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Tickets for the August 3 Fight Night, held in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, went on sale earlier this month, through www.etihadarena.ae and www.ticketmaster.ae.
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Director: Jordan Peele
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford
Four stars
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Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
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ICC Awards for 2021+
MEN
Cricketer of the Year+– Shaheen Afridi+(Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year+– Mohammad Rizwan+(Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year+– Babar Azam+(Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year+– Joe Root+(England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year+– Smriti Mandhana+(India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year+– Lizelle Lee+(South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year+– Tammy Beaumont+(England)
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Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
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Publisher: Odd Meter
Console: PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox series X/S
Rating: 4/5
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Power: 118hp
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Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
Company profile
Name: Yabi by Souqalmal
Started: May 2022, launched June 2023
Founder: Ambareen Musa
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: undisclosed but soon to be announced
Number of staff: 12
Investment stage: seed
Investors: Shuaa Capital
KEY DATES IN AMAZON'S HISTORY
July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
2011: The Amazon Appstore for Google's Android is launched. It is still unavailable on Apple's iOS
2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
2017: Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its biggest acquisition
2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
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Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)