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Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

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Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

#211

Post by dboreham »

sbierwagen wrote: post #128
impostervt wrote: post #31

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, an…

The most plausible conspiracy theory I've seen for the complete lack of regulatory action against Bitcoin or Tether is that they're being used to launder money by the US intelligence community.

My version of this theory is less far out: just that there are now sufficient number of people in the elite with significant exposure to cryptocurrency. When you see folks on CNBC talking about trading BTC like it's pork bellies, you know something's going on...

Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

#212

Post by CryptoPunk »

tcgv wrote: post #195

Quick question for more experienced folks in this thread: What will happen to USDC if/when Tether tanks?

I'm not an experienced folk, but I can confidently predict that USDC will be fine. That's why it's already taken over most stablecoin functions in Ethereum DeFi.

Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

#213

Post by CryptoPunk »

iSnow wrote: post #29

Does 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?

You don't have to use crypto. Obviously some people want to be involved in crypto, so why not just respect their right to do with their own time/money what they want. If the environment is your concern, then you should propose application agnostic restrictions on emitting CO2. Not use the environment as an excuse to selectively prohibit an activity you personally dislike.

Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

#214

Post by louloulou »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #38
shawabawa3 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

Yup, you can do it on Kraken (https://trade.kraken.com/charts/KRAKEN:USDT-USD?period=1d)

Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

#215

Post by dboreham »

fleddr wrote: post #35
iSnow wrote: post #29

Does 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.

Curious. Is that true? I ask because I read papers on digital cash years before Bitcoin and never saw any reference to financial system instability. It was just "being able to send money digitally like cash would be useful and cool", perhaps with a bit of "banks and western union are bandits with their fees". I always thought the alternative financial system stuff was added later to make the scene more interesting to prepper types.

Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

#217

Post by cinntaile »

acdha wrote: post #141
cinntaile wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any economic activity is basically actively destroying the environment though. The big difference is that there are a few supply chain steps that get bypassed before value is created. I know I know, someone will take issue with that and say that no value is created with crypto when a coin gets minted and the rewards are distributed while value is created along each supply chain step when you manufacture a car. But if…

Who outside of the cryptocurrency industry would notice if they disappeared? Who outside of the automotive industry would notice if cars disappeared? That's your answer: pollution is still a concern but only one of those is balanced against significant real-world benefits for people other than the sellers.

I was thinking about miners, they get bitcoins as a reward for helping to keep the network secure. So what I'm saying is that they get rewarded for their work in much the same way that all the cogs in the supply chain machine get rewarded for their work. There are just fewer steps.

There's interplay with other actors of course, the people that trade bitcoin are one of those actors. This kind of interaction also exists for physical objects like cars, they also only get their value by interacting with the rest of the world.

But yes if cars would disappear this would have an impact on more people simply because there are more people involved in the manufacturing process.

Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

#218

Post by eBombzor »

fleddr wrote: post #146
notJim wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody cares. Because they have nothing to lose anyway and will just start over. Because the underlying economic issues did not change. If crypto was only these people, I'd have more sympathy for them. But in reality, it's some of those people, and then tons of far more sophisticated people who are trying to take advantage of the rubes. In the end, the Tether people will make out like bandits, and everyone else wil…

Like I said, that doesn't sound threatening or scary at all. Because it happens all the time. Crashes, rug pulls, hacks...all regular occurrences. That's the price to pay for the incredible upside potential. People that can't stomach this, should simply not be in the game. Alternatively, and the wiser strategy, is that you put a portion of your wealth in crypto, say 10-25%. The absolute worst thing that can happen is…

It is easy to make money right now because crypto just had one of the greatest bull runs of all time. How could you say that it would be the case in the future? 400% is easy? Easy to look at a chart and assume you can grab a chunk before it moons. How do you know there will be more 100%+ gains in the future? With the gaining popularity, bitcoin and eth will probably only fluctuate less and less over time.

Re: Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?

#220

Post by CryptoPunk »

dustintrex wrote: post #15
moneywoes wrote: post #9

Are there any legitimate stable coins?

No. USDC was long considered the adult in the room, but they started going off the rails earlier this year, dropping the 1:1 promise, delaying attestations and also now facing heavy regulatory scrutiny.

If anything, USDC has been reducing its risk profile from what I'm seen. Recently they announced they will be replacing all of their remaining corporate-bond-backing with USD cash and US treasuries. Source for your claims to the contrary?
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