3 ms·

So succinctly, the bear case for crypto is Tether gets shut down by USA (or international treaty) and then any hard cash left in crypto markets after that is sl

So succinctly, the bear case for crypto is Tether gets shut down by USA (or international treaty) and then any hard cash left in crypto markets after that is slowly drained by miners paying electric bills? (Ignoring 51% attack and attack by hostile tax policy.)

itsthecourier 6y ago
At some point we will discover tether money may not be in the bank completely
howlgarnish 6y ago
The bear case is that markets realize Tether is backed only hot air and head for the exits. Tether "breaks the buck" (price goes under $1.00), and on USDT exchanges there's a spike in all other cryptos as people buy anything and everything to get rid of it. On exchanges with actual fiat, people get spooked and start selling crypto for fiat, spooking more people into selling and triggering a market crash. This, incidentally, is pretty much what happened when Mt Gox disclosed that they were backed by hot air because they had most of their reserves stolen.
- dustingetz 6y ago
  But everyone "in" on crypto wants Tether to hold, so it will, which is why that scam even works at all. A run on Tether is not going to happen, everyone already knows there's nothing there and yet it holds
  - octoberfranklin 6y ago
    That's what people say right before ponzis collapse.
    - bsanr2 6y ago
      Is it comparable to a Ponzi scheme? It doesn't seem like Bitcoin relies on a constant influx of cash, simply the belief that any given holder desiring to exchange for USD will get x amount for it.
- ur-whale 6y ago
  >This, incidentally, is pretty much what happened when Mt Gox ... Indeed. Let's hope the same story won't repeat when Paypal is found to hold fractional reserves of their BTC-denominated liabilities.
- DennisP 6y ago
  Mt. Gox was handling 70% of Bitcoin trade volume at the time. Of course the price crashed, when everyone on Mt. Gox tried to sell their mostly-stolen Bitcoins while they could. I don't know how a Tether crash would play out but it's an entirely different situation.
octoberfranklin 6y ago
> the bear case for crypto is Tether gets shut down by USA (or international treaty) I am pretty astonished this has not happened already. Only way I can explain it is that Tether is helping the CIA launder money. Seriously. Nothing else explains it.

itsthecourier 6y ago

At some point we will discover tether money may not be in the bank completely

howlgarnish 6y ago

The bear case is that markets realize Tether is backed only hot air and head for the exits. Tether "breaks the buck" (price goes under $1.00), and on USDT exchanges there's a spike in all other cryptos as people buy anything and everything to get rid of it. On exchanges with actual fiat, people get spooked and start selling crypto for fiat, spooking more people into selling and triggering a market crash. This, incidentally, is pretty much what happened when Mt Gox disclosed that they were backed by hot air because they had most of their reserves stolen.

dustingetz 6y ago
But everyone "in" on crypto wants Tether to hold, so it will, which is why that scam even works at all. A run on Tether is not going to happen, everyone already knows there's nothing there and yet it holds
- octoberfranklin 6y ago
  That's what people say right before ponzis collapse.
  - bsanr2 6y ago
    Is it comparable to a Ponzi scheme? It doesn't seem like Bitcoin relies on a constant influx of cash, simply the belief that any given holder desiring to exchange for USD will get x amount for it.
ur-whale 6y ago
>This, incidentally, is pretty much what happened when Mt Gox ... Indeed. Let's hope the same story won't repeat when Paypal is found to hold fractional reserves of their BTC-denominated liabilities.
DennisP 6y ago
Mt. Gox was handling 70% of Bitcoin trade volume at the time. Of course the price crashed, when everyone on Mt. Gox tried to sell their mostly-stolen Bitcoins while they could. I don't know how a Tether crash would play out but it's an entirely different situation.

octoberfranklin 6y ago

> the bear case for crypto is Tether gets shut down by USA (or international treaty) I am pretty astonished this has not happened already. Only way I can explain it is that Tether is helping the CIA launder money. Seriously. Nothing else explains it.