[2018-03-05] Too Big to Fail? Tether Might Still Be Crypto's Ticking Time Bomb

[fonenumba]

Often, when a cryptocurrency tanks, holders of a rival coin will tease them with "SFYL" - sorry for your loss.

But the entire industry needs to keep an eye on Tether's USDT token, because if something were to happen to it, the result could be everyone's loss.

That's because the coin, also known as tether, has become a pivotal source of liquidity for the crypto markets. Without wanting to further spread fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) in a community that's had more than its share, a collapse of tether would be extremely bad for these markets, causing a ripple effect and, in the worst case, conceivably toppling exchanges.

https://www.coindesk.com/big-fail-tether-might-still-cryptos-ticking-time-bomb/

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[aso118]

This has been bandied as Bitcoin's doomsday scenario for more than a year now, but Tether has chugged along. It would be great if the company behind tether took some basic steps to remove concerns - like being more transparent and allowing an audit of their reserves. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be forthcoming and the conspiracy theories keep floating around.

[richardsNY]

Here we go again.... Tether has always been a ticking time bomb, so there isn't anything different here, especially with how they are connected to Bitfinex. Main point of importance is that as long as there isn't an audit proving that Tether has 1USD in reserve for every USDT they issued, it's pointless to keep rehashing the same information over and over again. Another important factor is that as long Tether allows people to withdraw their actual USD's, there isn't much to worry about. I would start to get worried when they can't fulfill people's cashouts to actual fiat anymore, because that would really indicate that people's suspicions about Tether creating supply out of thin air are funded and justified.

[DooMAD]

a collapse of tether would be extremely bad for these markets, causing a ripple effect and, in the worst case, conceivably toppling exchanges.

It would only topple one exchange and that's Bitfinex.  If anything, all the other exchanges would profit from all the extra trading volume when it gets dumped hard.  Then someone will come up with a replacement, or use one of the other pegged coins and the whole sordid song and dance can start again.  As far as I can recall, USDT wasn't even the first coin someone tried pegging to the dollar.  I'm sure I remember using BitUSD before Tether was even a thing.