A new move from the Bitfinex exchange will create massive volume in the form of an initial exchange offering of a native exchange token, according to new reports today.
Coindesk reports the company plans to launch a $1 billion IEO that will supply stablecoin values at one dollar a piece, with a minimum participation amount of $1 million. (That’s pretty steep for qualifying investors!)
Contending that half a billion of these tokens are already supported, Zhao Dong commented on qualifications and eligibility for investors, as well as the requirement to make a soft commitment in just three days (by May 5). Dong is a major Bitfinex shareholder, a Chinese BTC billionaire with experience running trading desks and DFund, an investment vehicle, as his brainchild.
“Zong described the token as a ‘hybrid’ of BNB, the token issued by Binance that can be used to pay trading fees on that exchange, and BFX, the token Bitfinex issued to customers who lost money in a 2016 hack, which was convertible to equity and was fully redeemed the following year,” reports Nikhilesh De.
The move to enhance the exhange’s capacity comes as Bitfinex continues to battle the New York Attorney General’s office over $850 million in deposits that the government agency contends were covered using Tether money. Bitfinex and Tether have refuted this allegation in no uncertain terms.
More recently, observers of the situation have been posting rather alarmist narratives.
“Bitfinex/Tether is done.” Posted GOAT (@ProofofResearch) April 27, according to reporting by Dalmas Ngetich at NewsBTC April 28. “They declared they’re not going to cooperate with the New York A.G.’s office.This situation is not salvageable at this point.They will be fugitives shortly, and that will eventually lead to the seizure of their assets & closure of their business.”
Other experts are hedging that kind of talk, but what’s clear is that Bitfinex and Twitter are not sitting idly by and let the regulators drive the story. The new programs may be another effort to battle against the inertia that might end up sinking Bitfinex.
Investors should take note of what’s happening with players like Bitfinex, Binance, CoinMarketCap, and various and sundry other exchanges and reporting platforms. Understanding this ecosystem is a good way to do due diligence on coins and secondary assets.
