They say money doesn't grow on trees but somehow Tether (USDT) not only didn't get the message but they didn't even bother to grow a money tree. Instead they have decided to grow money out of thin air. This situation has the potential to negatively disrupt the entire cryptocurrency market until it gets resolved or Tether gets completely washed out of the market.
The Tether Ponzi scheme can continue as long as traders continue to buy when it's below US$1 or Tether themselves have enough US dollars to trade it back up to $1. What happens when Tether is no longer able to prop up their fake currency? I contend that the real value of Tether is ONLY the amount of $US dollars they have available "in the bank".
Here are my arguments:
- Tether currently has no accounting firm or auditor. If a company has accounting problems that can not be solved, accounting firms need to disassociate with that company or they will lose everything. If no accounting firm or auditor will work with a company, that is a red, red, red flag. (see https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@kjnk/breaking-relationship-between-tether-and-accounting-firm-friedman-llp-has-been-officially-terminated)
- Tether is currently dropping which will test it's resolve. ( See https://www.tradingview.com/chart/USDTUSD/oRCljCO5-Beginning-of-the-End-of-Tether/ )
- In ONE day tether increased it's market cap US$600M. This is not the same as increasing a cryptocurrency pool, this is supposed to be REAL US dollars. Where did it come from?
- Tether market cap is $2.25B "backed by US dollars". Were would a company even be able to store this amount of money? Doing an online weight calculation this amount of money would be 22.5 tons or 2.25 km high. "The amount of $ 2,250,000,000 would have in 100 Dollar Notes a weight of 22.50 t (20.41 short tons). A single stack of money with 22,500,000 new banknotes would be 2.25 km (1.40 miles) high and would have a volume of at least 23,285.03 litres (24,605.01 quarts)." http://1000000-euro.de/how-much-does-a-million-dollars-weigh/index.php#weigh-dollar
Has anyone ever seen a Tether dump truck show up at the bank? Obviously it would all be electronically transferred but it's still fun to think about the physical view.
Suggestions:
- Run all crypto charts using other references besides USDT.
- Don't assume Tether is a "safe" option for holding on the sidelines while waiting to reinvest in crypto.
- Blockchain technology has incredible potential just like Internet of today, but that is separate from investing. (see https://www.tradingview.com/chart/DJINET/aZAYD8on-Compare-Cryptos-to-Internet-index/)
Additonal Info on accounting, auditor:
Retraction and Update: Tether has recovered to the $1 US level. I did some more studying of this issue including listening to a podcast with Richard Heart. I think Richard has an excellent point that an auditor would not be able to complete an adequate audit. In addition, he correctly states that we have no other choice for parking money on the sidelines when cryptos are going down. Trying to do this in coinbase is very expensive. Therefore, I retract my statement about Tether for now. I still caution and suggest to watch the price level of USDT/USD.