Want to Understand Bitfinex? Understand Mt. Gox

While Bitfinex doesn't exactly rhyme with Mt. Gox, there are several parallels in the stories of these two exchanges.

People interested in understanding Bitfinex are well-served to understand what happened with Mt. Gox.

Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange, the owners of which also control Tether, issuer of the most popular stablecoin, known as tether or USDT. The NYAG accuses Bitfinex of losing over $800 million.

The office "Does seek to enjoin Respondents from taking any further action to access, loan, extend credit, encumber, pledge, or make any other similar transfer or claim between Bitfinex and Tether."

One may rightly wonder: how exactly did Bitfinex manage to lose more than $800 million? The answer is closely intertwined with the exchange's banking relationships, or lack thereof.

If history is any guide, we can expect any potential fallout from significant troubles experienced by Bitfinex to linger too.

These latest issues with Bitfinex are also a learning opportunity.

One can understand why exchange outflow would increase in the current environment.

It's easy to look back at Mt. Gox and see similarities to Bitfinex and Tether.

All the same signals, like the large price spread between Bitfinex and regulated exchanges such as Coinbase, are there.