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Probably depends on what your question was. If it was something like "I'm running this story tomorrow about how Kraken's CEO is an alien vampire unless you prove otherwise.", you shouldn't expect a response.
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Yes, I would be here on Twitter stating I didn't get a response back from Kraken if I it was about an alien story. Let's make it simple, you know the Bloomberg article on your USDT/USD pair well, I asked questions on the data it used and on getting Kraken’s view on it.
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My views on that article in general are here: twitter.com/erjeetjeh/stat, also linked in the same email. You can see there and in replies, focusing on the data, not the line of the Bloomberg article. Genuine, normal, relevant questions. No response. Want me to state them here?
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So today’s article by @mattleising on Tether and Kraken is really interesting. I love the data analysis approach. For me, the big question is the recurring numbers. Who is doing this and why? Who benefits? bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-
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Alright, thanks. They are not covered in the blog post, different focus than the Bloomberg article itself. 1. How come there are these reoccurring order sizes on the Kraken USDT/USD trading pair (Twitter screenshots below show 1000, Bloomberg article also shows many 75)?
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2. Why do these reoccurring orders alternate between buy and sell orders? I.e. the two screenshots are half an hour apart 3. Do these orders, and the alternating buy and sell orders, raise red flags to Kraken or not? Since you have all the monitoring data, what are we looking at?
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4. Who is behind these trades? Not asking to identify, but is this one trader (or entity) or a few (<10) or are we talking many? 5. How are these trades - in your view - beneficial for those executing them? Or how could they be?
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4. Can't say but it doesn't matter. 5. Making money arbing on other exchanges, or maybe market maker paid by Tether with volume reqs, or maybe they think they're going to get fee discounts for the volume, or maybe they're testing bots before launching on other markets.
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Thanks for answering. Re: 5, not sure how the alternating buys and sells can relate to arbitrage, it shouldn't be a pattern? Tether market maker/pursuing fee discount could be an explanation, but isn't that a form of creating ‘fake’ volume? There are USDT trading fees right?
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I know you have had wash trading accusations regarding the pair. Although that should work as a signal to pump, which makes little sense for USDT, it does appear to relate to creating volume. Would you agree or not? Not seeing how it's malicious either (though can't rule it out).
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witchcraft, interesting 😄. 'Cannot rule it out' relates to 1) you have access to much more data than me or anyone else. You undoubtedly also have much experience with catching malicious activities.
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And 2) if I were to report on this (would have loved to run a response article from Kraken's perspective with these questions included at the time, newsworthiness is kinda gone now), it should be my job to not rule it out, to instead ask questions, and to consult experts.
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