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I agree that the people behind Tether are fundamentally pretty sketchy, and it has a significant risk of collapse. However, Tether can't be totally ignored beca

by lacker 7y ago

I agree that the people behind Tether are fundamentally pretty sketchy, and it has a significant risk of collapse. However, Tether can't be totally ignored because as of right now, it's still the best tool for some things. The main value of Tether is that the BTC-Tether market is the most liquid cryptocurrency market. So if you want to exchange Bitcoin into dollars in an all-cryptocurrency transaction, you will probably get the best rates into Tether, and be able to perform your transaction the fastest. If you plan on swapping out of Tether soon, then the systemic risk of Tether collapsing might only be a small problem for your application. It's a shame that the most popular stablecoin is such junk behind the scenes. I think we would be better off if a different stablecoin with a more solid grounding was the most popular one. But for now, since Tether is the most popular stablecoin and popularity itself provides value for some applications, Tether is a useful part of the crypto ecosystem.

cperciva 7y ago
if you want to exchange Bitcoin into dollars in an all-cryptocurrency transaction What does that even mean? Dollars aren't cryptocurrency. If you're converting to Tethers, you're not converting to Dollars.
- lacker 7y ago
  I think of it as “one dollar minus some fees”. I would usually rather have one tether than one dollar minus credit card fees. Yeah if you want to use it in the fiat economy you have to exchange it out, but that isn’t too hard.
  - akerl_ 7y ago
    The whole premise of this article is that Tether is not “one dollar minus some fees”, it’s a mountain made of lies, built on a tectonic plate system made of fraud.
rideontime 7y ago
If you'd read the linked article, you'd realize its premise isn't that "it has a significant risk of collapse," but that it has indeed already collapsed.
SamBam 7y ago
This sounds like "...this scam works totally fine so long as you only intend to be in it for a short time, so you don't end up being the one holding the bag."
mundo 7y ago
> I think we would be better off if a different stablecoin with a more solid grounding was the most popular one. I think you're missing the point of the article - the reason Tether is the most popular and cheapest is because it is junk behind the scenes. You could start a competing one, which follows KYC laws like a real bank, but you'd have to charge higher fees (KYC is expensive) and turn away many customers (KYC is effective). But few users would use it; they would keep using the cheaper, more popular option, and they would justify it exactly the same way you did: > But for now, since Tether is the most popular stablecoin and popularity itself provides value...

by lacker 7y ago

cperciva 7y ago

if you want to exchange Bitcoin into dollars in an all-cryptocurrency transaction What does that even mean? Dollars aren't cryptocurrency. If you're converting to Tethers, you're not converting to Dollars.

lacker 7y ago
I think of it as “one dollar minus some fees”. I would usually rather have one tether than one dollar minus credit card fees. Yeah if you want to use it in the fiat economy you have to exchange it out, but that isn’t too hard.
- akerl_ 7y ago
  The whole premise of this article is that Tether is not “one dollar minus some fees”, it’s a mountain made of lies, built on a tectonic plate system made of fraud.

rideontime 7y ago

If you'd read the linked article, you'd realize its premise isn't that "it has a significant risk of collapse," but that it has indeed already collapsed.

SamBam 7y ago

This sounds like "...this scam works totally fine so long as you only intend to be in it for a short time, so you don't end up being the one holding the bag."

mundo 7y ago

> I think we would be better off if a different stablecoin with a more solid grounding was the most popular one. I think you're missing the point of the article - the reason Tether is the most popular and cheapest is because it is junk behind the scenes. You could start a competing one, which follows KYC laws like a real bank, but you'd have to charge higher fees (KYC is expensive) and turn away many customers (KYC is effective). But few users would use it; they would keep using the cheaper, more popular option, and they would justify it exactly the same way you did: > But for now, since Tether is the most popular stablecoin and popularity itself provides value...