Earlier quoted context omitted.
I call BS. Bitcoin's trading volume has been between $20 and $50 billion USD per day (in the last year). Tether's total valuation is $19.4 billion. It's a drop in the bucket.
Then explain, by your own quote: > Research by John M. Griffin and Amin Shams in 2018 suggests that trading associated with increases in the amount of tether and associated trading at the Bitfinex exchange account for about half of the price increase in bitcoin in late 2017.[29][11][23] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tether_(cryptocurrency) :) In the past, ethereum was also highly automated trading.
2) Confirmation bias. There are people looking to prove what they already believe. So they go out and "prove it". Have you seen what their proof exactly is? I've heard claims like that many times, and their proofs fall apart every time as soon as you look at the numbers and how much cryptocurrencies are actually traded. The volumes are huge. Tether is tiny.