Imagine you and I have a collection of paintings by an artist. We want to sell them for more than the last painting by that artist went for- but the market pric

Imagine you and I have a collection of paintings by an artist. We want to sell them for more than the last painting by that artist went for- but the market price is pegged around that price. We agree to buy each other’s paintings at a much larger price- which is fine for us, because we are paying roughly the same as we are getting and we will still have a painting. But now it appears to third parties that the paintings are worth the new price. In the case of tether, I understand the second painting might have been just a a new canvas with “I-owe-you-x-dollars, signed-bitfinex”. And also both parties are essentially the same people here. Disclaimer: I am not a finance guy and I don’t know what I am talking about.