Bitcoin is worth what someone will pay for it. While printing tethers is lame, I don’t really see how it’s different from a central bank printing trillions of USD to prop up bonds, housing, etc. other than it’s the antithesis of what Bitcoin is supposed to be.
If tether was truly under attack it would trade for under $1 against trusted stablecoins like USDC, but it hasn’t yet. This has happened before, but it isn’t today.
Crypto traders simply don’t care, they appreciate USDT because it’s sketchy. Something that is more regulated would make them less likely to use it.
> If tether was truly under attack it would trade for under $1
You’re assuming efficient markets. (Also, Bitfinex has admitted in court filings that Tether isn’t fully backed.)
I have capital, have spent my career trading securities and think Tether is a scam. But I’m not going to short it, for a variety of reasons, one big one being the main places it trades are controlled by Bitfinex.
The problem is that tether allows one private entity to effectively control the market for everyone else. There is no real price discovery going on here if they can just be printed and used as if they were real dollars. It makes the whole market a lie.
Which it arguably is anyway with at least 95% of reported exchange trade volumes being fabricated.
If tether was truly under attack it would trade for under $1 against trusted stablecoins like USDC, but it hasn’t yet. This has happened before, but it isn’t today.
Crypto traders simply don’t care, they appreciate USDT because it’s sketchy. Something that is more regulated would make them less likely to use it.