Tether became a fundamental component of the crypto ecosystem by allowing crypto / fiat trades and price discovery without needing routine access to the legacy

Tether became a fundamental component of the crypto ecosystem by allowing crypto / fiat trades and price discovery without needing routine access to the legacy banking system. USDC, GUSD, etc. are trying to replace Tether by accomplishing the same thing without the baggage and distrust of Tether. There may be core risks of asset-backed stablecoins but compared with everything else in the ecosystem they are much more reliable.