[Bitcoin Now] Falls to 55 Million Won Range... Tether Coin Loss Concealment Revealed

Once Shaken Up to 50 Million Won... Cryptocurrency Crimes Resurface Again

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The representative cryptocurrency Bitcoin fell to the 55 million KRW range as it was revealed that cryptocurrency issuing companies and exchanges concealed losses.

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, as of 10:30 AM on the 24th, Bitcoin recorded 55.7 million KRW, up about 1.1% compared to the previous day. On the previous day at 8:45 PM, it had dropped to as low as 50.9 million KRW.

The news that the cryptocurrency issuing company Tether and the overseas cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex concealed losses appears to have acted as a negative factor. According to Bloomberg, a US economic media outlet, on the 23rd (local time), the New York State Attorney General revealed that Tether and Bitfinex concealed massive financial losses. Tether and Bitfinex agreed with the New York State Attorney General to pay a fine of 18.5 million USD (approximately 20.6 billion KRW).

Tether is a company that issues a type of stablecoin called "Tether," which is pegged to the value of existing currency. One Tether coin corresponds to one US dollar. The investigation revealed that since 2017, the company did not hold enough dollars to match the amount of Tether coins. It was also found that they concealed the fact that liquidity problems caused disruptions in bank usage.

Bitfinex incurred losses while transferring 850 million USD to the Panama company "Crypto Capital" in 2018 and borrowed from Tether's reserves but concealed this fact.

Some have raised suspicions that Tether coins, which acted as a currency for purchasing other cryptocurrencies, were used to manipulate Bitcoin prices. However, Tether and Bitfinex denied such claims in a statement, saying no such facts have been confirmed.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk mentioned Bitcoin again. On the 23rd (local time), Musk posted the word "Excession" on his Twitter. It is unclear whether Musk meant that Bitcoin's price is excessive or that the recent sharp decline is excessive, as he did not clarify, leading to divided interpretations.

According to Google Trends data, interest in the word "Excession" was zero until 8:28 PM the previous day but surged to 100 at 8:52 PM. The spike occurred immediately after Musk posted the tweet at 8:50 PM Korean time. The country showing the greatest interest was South Korea.