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Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by tsujp on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:07AM (#26843330)
1 USDT is meant to represent 1 USD in the bank in the custody of Tether.

In 2019 Tether was proven to be only 74% backed by fiat and fiat-equivalent assets: https://www.coindesk.com/tether-lawyer-confirms-stablecoin-7... This means it's not 74 literal cents per USDT but some proportion of a liquid asset and fiat.

Tether has long since refused to release any concrete of proof of reserve and even when they were heavily pressured to only admitted to a lack thereof (74% in 2019 and that 74% isn't even fiat-only).

Tether is nothing but bad for the crypto-space as when it eventually DOES collapse a lot of people are going to find themselves holding something, USDT, which isn't as backed as they thought it was. Would you give me a dollar right now if I gave you back 74 cents?

The only sensible stable crypto asset is DAI from the MakerDAO which has been battle tested and proven under the worst possible scenarios (2017/2018 bullmarket crash) where it still held it's peg.

I don't know how this extends to USDC etc but for USDT I wouldn't touch it with a 20 foot pole.

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by tigertigertiger on Saturday April 17, 2021 @08:03AM (#26843637)
>Dai was battle tested and proven under the worst possible scenarios

Yes and it failed horrible and resulted in 9 million dollars loss because of a design flaw:

https://blog.makerdao.com/the-market-collapse-of-march-12-20...

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by yrral on Saturday April 17, 2021 @08:51AM (#26843859)
If it was actually perceived as risky, wouldn't it be trading at a discount to USDC? However if you look, you can currently convert a billion dollars of tether into USDC with _positive_ slippage: https://1inch.exchange/#/USDT/USDC?network=1 For DAI, as of posting, you can covert 10 million.

So to answer your question, yes, I would be happy to take you tether for USDC or DAI

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by tiborsaas on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:38AM (#26843481)
I'm no crypto expert or remotely experienced with finance, but my understanding of USDT is that it's simply a bridge to simplify moving funds between fiat and crypto. It even simplifies converting one crypto to another where there is no direct route on exchanges.

It's much less volatile compared to other coins and if it fluctuates a bit that's not really an issue in the short timeframe I do my conversions.

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by m00dy on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:34AM (#26843463)
there was a news about tether couple of weeks ago. What do you think about it ? Do you think it is legit ?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-30/tether-re...

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by bb88 on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:26PM (#26848337)
The problem was the NYAG who asked for proof and Bitfinex couldn't provide proof. So they paid a modest fine and got banned from operating in the state of NY.
Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by mantap on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:40AM (#26843492)
74% backing sounds pretty good for a cryptocurrency. I wouldn't touch tether myself as USDC is better in every way, but I don't think there's going to be the fireworks that people predict if the peg falls only to 74 cents.
Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by garmaine on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:47AM (#26843547)
That was years ago when the tether issuance was a tiny fraction of today.
Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by postalrat on Saturday April 17, 2021 @09:01AM (#26843921)
Crypto fans will write a few articles why it doesn't matter tether is backed and suddenly it won't matter.
Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by ikeboy on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:52AM (#26843566)
DAI is not scalable. See https://medium.com/@hasufly/maker-dai-stable-but-not-scalabl... for a detailed explanation as to why. Tldr: the supply of DAI is bounded by the demand for a particular kind of liquidity, which doesn't scale with demand for DAI.
Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by jariel on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:33AM (#26843459)
BTC has nothing backing it whatsoever. The crypto space doesn't seem to mind.

The minds managing the crypto space have never depended on reason or financial integrity, just a means to excite the masses onto their scheme.

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by Lordarminius on Saturday April 17, 2021 @07:41AM (#26843503)
> BTC has nothing backing it whatsoever....

Bitcoin can be verified and cannot be forged or arbitrarily created. That is its backing.

What is the backing of the US dollar at this point asides from threat of violence against challengers ?

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by Vespasian on Saturday April 17, 2021 @08:36AM (#26843794)
> What is the backing of the US dollar at this point asides from threat of violence against challengers ?

That is part of the backing of any government issued currency and it's not a bad one. Usually currencies don't collapse or hyperinflate. If society breaks down locally the question is whether some crypto asset or the thing backed by guns will prevail in the mid term.

In war time: I'm betting on the people with the tanks.

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by imtringued on Saturday April 17, 2021 @08:39AM (#26843814)
>What is the backing of the US dollar at this point asides from threat of violence against challengers ?

That's pretty much as strong as it gets. I joke all the time that at some point someone will found a Bitcoin nation with its own military.

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by ameister14 on Saturday April 17, 2021 @08:06AM (#26843650)
Aside from the very thing that is the foundation of all large societies, you mean?

What does it need other than that?

Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by shkkmo on Saturday April 17, 2021 @08:59AM (#26843912)
The backing of a national currency is productive capacity of that nation and the control of the government over that capacity.
Re:55% of all Tether, $25B, were created in 2021 by jariel on Saturday April 17, 2021 @11:33AM (#26845005)
This is the closest thing to correct, more specifically USD is backed by some real-estate and mostly TBill which is the government's ability to pay it's debt.

There's some sketchiness there, but generally it works, and of course, there are externalities like petrodollar but generally it's a sound currency.

It's not a super store of value, but it's not meant to be, there are other assets for that.

BTC is about as financially relevant as a GameStop mob, so if we're going to understand it, its' for the populist psychology, not for anything else.

Here is the 'backing':

USD [1]

Canadian Dollar [2]

Euro [3]

Bitcoin -> nothing.

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL [2] https://www.bankofcanada.ca/research/ [3] https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/annual/balance/html/index.en.h...