Bitfinex - The Hacks, Tether and Bitcoin with Paolo Ardoino

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“It’s important to us to support Bitcoin and to show respect to the coin that made all of this possible.”
— Paolo Ardoino

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Location: Squadcast
Date: Monday 7th September
Company: Bitfinex
Role: CTO

Bitfinex is one of the oldest and largest Bitcoin exchanges. Since 2014, the exchange has had to endure multiple hacks, including at $60 million theft in 2016.

iFinex, the parent company of Bitfinex, also oversees Tether. Tether is the largest stablecoin, regularly facilitating over $50 billion in daily trading volume and is supported by close to 150 exchanges. It too isn't without its controversies, there have been calls to audit Tether to prove that it is fully reserved and there are claims ether printing has been used to manipulate the markets. 

Despite the controversies, the Bitfinex and Tether teams have been instrumental in supporting the growth of Bitcoin.

In this interview, I talk to Paolo Ardoino the CTO of Bitfinex. We discuss how Bitfinex dealt with the exchange hacks, protecting against future attacks, Tether, the Lightning Network and funding Bitcoin projects.

TIMESTAMPS

00:04:12: Introductions
00:05:16: Paolo's introduction to Bitcoin
00:08:34: The 2016 Bitfinex hack
00:13:35: Exchange security
00:16:56: BFX tokens
00:19:16: Tether from the start
00:25:37: Unifying Tether for all chains
00:27:49: Tether's overall volume
00:32:57: Dealing with the FUD!
00:36:53: Challenges with operating an exchange
00:38:01: Paolo's passion for coding and Bitcoin
00:42:22: The Lightning Network integration
00:43:47: All about the RGB protocol
00:50:24: Other Bitfinex-funded projects
00:53:41: Final Comments

 

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SHOW NOTES

PodcastPeter McCormack