People have been yelling about Tether for years, myself included. But nothing seems to stop it. Not lawsuits, not major news articles.
The conclusion I draw is that, yes, the game is rigged - AND EVERYONE IS OK WITH IT. As long as it's making everyone money, no one will really complain.
What I also find interesting, is that if tether ever DOES crash, the result might be a big boost for Bitcoin. If you hold Tether, and you want to cash out, the path leads through Bitcoin.
Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
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Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#32Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#33I don't understand how Tether has survived this long. Bitfinex and Tether sure look transparently like a fraud, all the way back to the "no really we have $1 in the bank for every Tether but you can't audit us" days. And yet it continues to occupy its role as the underpinning of most cryptocurrency markets. Why hasn't it blown up yet? My best guess is that it's useful to everyone taking in money from new retail inves…
It took Liberty Reserve 7 years and 17 countries cooperating to get nuked from orbit.
Tether was founded as Realcoin in 2014 by a group including former child star and accused sex offender Brock Pierce, so while it’s technically just rounding the 7 year mark, it didn’t begin in earnest until it was taken over by Bitfinex towards 2015 and didn’t become majorly problematic until 2016/2017 according to the NYAG findings. [1]
Given the vastly larger scope here, I suspect we’re going to be dealing with them for a few more years as the wheels of Justice spool up.
For anyone wanting to learn more I highly recommend Bennett Tomlins write up. [2]
[1] https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2021.02.17_-_settlemen...
[2] https://bennettftomlin.com/2020/12/08/an-introduction-to-the...
Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The last time Bitwise tried to list an ETF, they revealed to the SEC that 95% of all bitcoin trading volume 95% of Bitcoin trading on *unregulated* exchanges was fraudulent. There’s a reason why people don’t use CoinMarketCap anymore and it’s precisely because it shows bad metrics from fraudulent exchanges.
They’re all unregulated. Coinbase was included in their list. The word “unregulated” was a flourish added by cointelegraph as a distraction. > Of the 81 exchanges evaluated in the report, only 10 provide volume figures that are legitimate, according to Bitwise. Coinbase is regulated as a money transmitter, like Venmo. [edit] what I believe they meant was that 95% of all trading volume was fake and 100% of that came f…
What does fake trading volume mean in this context?
Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#35Does crypto do anything but cause troubles? If it's not actively destroying the environment, then it's endangering financial stability. How does the government not step in here?
Ironic remark, as Bitcoin is invented in response to the instability of the traditional financial system.
Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#36I don't understand how Tether has survived this long. Bitfinex and Tether sure look transparently like a fraud, all the way back to the "no really we have $1 in the bank for every Tether but you can't audit us" days. And yet it continues to occupy its role as the underpinning of most cryptocurrency markets. Why hasn't it blown up yet? My best guess is that it's useful to everyone taking in money from new retail inves…
It's trivially easy for anyone to short tether, simply take out a DeFi loan of tether backed by any other crypto collateral (including e.g. USDC so you don't have liquidation risk).
It will just cost you a few % APR to keep the position open
Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#37Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#38I don't understand how Tether has survived this long. Bitfinex and Tether sure look transparently like a fraud, all the way back to the "no really we have $1 in the bank for every Tether but you can't audit us" days. And yet it continues to occupy its role as the underpinning of most cryptocurrency markets. Why hasn't it blown up yet? My best guess is that it's useful to everyone taking in money from new retail inves…
It's trivially easy for anyone to short tether, simply take out a DeFi loan of tether backed by any other crypto collateral (including e.g. USDC so you don't have liquidation risk). It will just cost you a few % APR to keep the position open
I'm not sure I follow your short structure but you're mentioning other cryptocurrencies. Is there a clean bet where I sell Tethers and get dollars? (USDC are not dollars.)
Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#39I don't understand how Tether has survived this long. Bitfinex and Tether sure look transparently like a fraud, all the way back to the "no really we have $1 in the bank for every Tether but you can't audit us" days. And yet it continues to occupy its role as the underpinning of most cryptocurrency markets. Why hasn't it blown up yet? My best guess is that it's useful to everyone taking in money from new retail inves…
It's trivially easy for anyone to short tether, simply take out a DeFi loan of tether backed by any other crypto collateral (including e.g. USDC so you don't have liquidation risk). It will just cost you a few % APR to keep the position open
Nope, occasionally exchanges will manipulate the price up to liquidate shorts - for instance the highest recorded trade price of USDT was about $1000 and dexes leave you at risk of flashbots and smart contract bugs.
Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?
#40People have been yelling about Tether for years, myself included. But nothing seems to stop it. Not lawsuits, not major news articles. The conclusion I draw is that, yes, the game is rigged - AND EVERYONE IS OK WITH IT. As long as it's making everyone money, no one will really complain. What I also find interesting, is that if tether ever DOES crash, the result might be a big boost for Bitcoin. If you hold Tether, an…
Re your first claim it just takes time.
Re your second claim, that’s a common misconception. The price of bitcoin would skyrocket against USDT but pancake against USD.
Who in their right mind would sell their (actually worth USD) Bitcoin for your worthless Bahamian IOUs? Absolutely nobody. So you’ll see a massive skyrocket against USDT and as soon as people realize what’s going on, it’ll go no-bid. RIP.
Then the ensuing panic will cause selling on USD markets, arb bots will turn off, and that selling will be accelerated by the few who got BTC from their USDT piles as they run for the exit. Then exchanges will go down for “maintenance.”
You don’t need to believe me, this happens with every exchange insolvency. It happened at Gox and it happened at Quadriga.