4 ms·

Is $7B a lot? Isn't Tether's cap alone around 10 times that? Is this an observable trend or just a small spike of an otherwise generally volatile phenomenon?

toomuchtodo 4y ago
It is potentially the slow start of a run as interest rates rise and lower risk assets offer improved yields versus crypto offerings. Besides Luna, Tether recently required recapitalization, so there is evidence of stress. No one knows (or would admit publicly if they did, lots of money to be made if you do) what’ll be the linchpin causing a full blown run and a rapid decapitalization of remaining stablecoins. If and when it occurs, it will happen slowly, and then all of a sudden as counterparties race to the exits. Last folks out hold the bags. https://www.kalzumeus.com/2022/05/20/tether-required-recapitalization/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2022/05/20/tether-required-recapit...
viraptor 4y ago
> Isn't Tether's cap alone around 10 times that? Tether's cap is not the same as Tether's available liquidity to redeem the token. We don't know what's the limit of withdrawals they can handle in reality.
- ur-whale 4y ago
  > We don't know what's the limit of withdrawals they can handle in reality. Yes that's a fair point (and it's likely some of the other stablecoins share that problem), but still, isn't $7B a rather tiny portion of the overall stablecoin market cap?
- FireBeyond 4y ago
  Yeah, about that. Used to be that you couldn't redeem unless you were a whale. Unless you weren't a US national. Unless you'd given 90-120 days notice. Unless there was a fee paid. People literally put up bounties hunting any successful redemption of Tether. Especially since, and this is as true now, as it was then: "Tether makes no guarantees, promises or arrangement that the Tether stablecoin is or will be redeemable in any way, shape or form."
  - Grimburger 4y ago
    You can redeem $0.30 worth of tether right here: https://trade.kraken.com/charts/KRAKEN:USDT-USD https://trade.kraken.com/charts/KRAKEN:USDT-USD There's very good reason to do a lot of KYC and set limits on people who want to get USD for their USDT. The last person who tried to operate such a business was locked up in a US prison for nearly a decade. Good motivation to not deal with retail customers and the slow burn US justice system don't you think? https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/us/liberty-dollar-creator-awaits-his-fate-behind-bars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/us/liberty-dollar-creator... What you want to happen to void this criticism would get the Tether execs put in prison. Though I guess that's what some people here secretly want anyway.
    - FireBeyond 4y ago
      > What you want to happen to void this criticism would get the Tether execs put in prison. Though I guess that's what some people here secretly want anyway. I mean, it's not like they have, multiple times, lied to people about their financial backing, actively messed around with KYC and AML laws, and have had multiple judgments open against them, or their affiliations with other entities like Bitfinex, when they really were one and the same. Oh wait, they HAVE done ALL of that.
- anonymousab 4y ago
  Surely it's 100%, surely the Tether project was not abjectly lying about their entire raison d'être this whole time.
  - seoaeu 4y ago
    Nah, the raison d'être of the project (like anything cryptocurrency related) is earning the creators tons of money. Scamming a whole bunch of cryptocurrency users by selling them tokens, and then absconding with the assets they’re supposedly backed by would be a highly effective way to do that

toomuchtodo 4y ago

It is potentially the slow start of a run as interest rates rise and lower risk assets offer improved yields versus crypto offerings. Besides Luna, Tether recently required recapitalization, so there is evidence of stress. No one knows (or would admit publicly if they did, lots of money to be made if you do) what’ll be the linchpin causing a full blown run and a rapid decapitalization of remaining stablecoins. If and when it occurs, it will happen slowly, and then all of a sudden as counterparties race to the exits. Last folks out hold the bags. https://www.kalzumeus.com/2022/05/20/tether-required-recapitalization/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2022/05/20/tether-required-recapit...

viraptor 4y ago

> Isn't Tether's cap alone around 10 times that? Tether's cap is not the same as Tether's available liquidity to redeem the token. We don't know what's the limit of withdrawals they can handle in reality.

ur-whale 4y ago
> We don't know what's the limit of withdrawals they can handle in reality. Yes that's a fair point (and it's likely some of the other stablecoins share that problem), but still, isn't $7B a rather tiny portion of the overall stablecoin market cap?
FireBeyond 4y ago
Yeah, about that. Used to be that you couldn't redeem unless you were a whale. Unless you weren't a US national. Unless you'd given 90-120 days notice. Unless there was a fee paid. People literally put up bounties hunting any successful redemption of Tether. Especially since, and this is as true now, as it was then: "Tether makes no guarantees, promises or arrangement that the Tether stablecoin is or will be redeemable in any way, shape or form."
- Grimburger 4y ago
  You can redeem $0.30 worth of tether right here: https://trade.kraken.com/charts/KRAKEN:USDT-USD https://trade.kraken.com/charts/KRAKEN:USDT-USD There's very good reason to do a lot of KYC and set limits on people who want to get USD for their USDT. The last person who tried to operate such a business was locked up in a US prison for nearly a decade. Good motivation to not deal with retail customers and the slow burn US justice system don't you think? https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/us/liberty-dollar-creator-awaits-his-fate-behind-bars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/us/liberty-dollar-creator... What you want to happen to void this criticism would get the Tether execs put in prison. Though I guess that's what some people here secretly want anyway.
  - FireBeyond 4y ago
    > What you want to happen to void this criticism would get the Tether execs put in prison. Though I guess that's what some people here secretly want anyway. I mean, it's not like they have, multiple times, lied to people about their financial backing, actively messed around with KYC and AML laws, and have had multiple judgments open against them, or their affiliations with other entities like Bitfinex, when they really were one and the same. Oh wait, they HAVE done ALL of that.
anonymousab 4y ago
Surely it's 100%, surely the Tether project was not abjectly lying about their entire raison d'être this whole time.
- seoaeu 4y ago
  Nah, the raison d'être of the project (like anything cryptocurrency related) is earning the creators tons of money. Scamming a whole bunch of cryptocurrency users by selling them tokens, and then absconding with the assets they’re supposedly backed by would be a highly effective way to do that