Could Tether (USDT) be really called decentralized cryptocurrency?

[Silberman]

The first sentence in the white paper of Tether (USDT) says the following. A digital token backed by fiat currency provides individuals and organizations with a
robust and decentralized method of exchanging value while using a familiar accounting unit.

Now don't get me wrong. I use USDT a lot, in fact I love it. The fixed price of $1 while being a cryptocurrency makes crypto transactions for purchasing services easy and beautiful.

But I keep thinking of how original paper money was created. In history we had gold for trading. Then gold became inconvenient so bankers offered to hold gold for paper that verifies how much gold is owed to customers. Then this paper became more convenient and was used instead of gold with the trust that its backed by gold. Then this paper a long time later became a currency that isn't backed by gold anymore.

Could the same happen with USDT. If everyone decided to claim original $$$ with their USDT, would Tether Limited issue it all making the price worthless?

Anyway the point I am trying to make is that Tether (USDT) is centralized around the Tether Limited's will to keep it going. This company is basically like a bank too.

Obviously it is not decentralized, they may claim to be but that does not make it true, and what you are describing is precisely why bitcoin was created on the first place, once a centralized entity gains the upper hand it is simply too tempting to not abuse their power, after all what are their users going to do about it? So during the last years there have been accusations against USDT of not having a 1:1 ratio when it comes to the coins in circulation and the dollars stored on their vaults, so anyone that uses any of the stable coins in the market should remember that those coins are not meant to be held for the long term and are just a way to get out of the market if it is crashing and protect your capital that way, but once it is done then it is time to go back to the cryptocurrencies that you trust.

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[Chuky92]

Tether is not a decentralized coin, in fact it wasn't created to be a decentralized coin, and as to what it is being backed with, there have been many arguments to that, but nowadays many don't care because Tether has grown quite a lot, and for the fact that it keeps growing in volume makes a good number of people to trust it over other stablecoins. In my own opinion, the only good thing about Tether is the stable nature and nothing more, as for trust, it can hardly be trusted because it is centralized, meaning the team can also decide what they think is the best for everyone, even if it means freezing a wallet and so on, so do not be deceived by what they write in their whitepaper about decentralization, Tether is highly centralized, rather the only thing I can say they succeeded in doing is having a robust method of exchanging value, which is true because nowadays you can send Tether through Omini, ERC 20 and TRC 20; thus a user can decide the one he wants.

[tvplus006]

Of course not, it's just USD issued on a blockchain by a company. Users need a cryptocurrency with a stable value in the face of major market fluctuations. But for now we don't have a better stablecoin option than Tether because of its popularity.

These USDT have nothing to do with the dollar. Tether couldn't think of anything better to use USD in the name of its token, thereby transferring the confidence of market participants in the Fiat dollar to it. It would be very different if they used a different token name.

[pixie85]

No cryptocurrency that can be created at will is decentralized.

If you or anybody else could "make" a bitcoin and increase total supply to 21 million and 1 it wouldn't be a decentralized cryptocurrency anymore.

Tether can be made at any moment. They need a million - poof and there it is. What kind of decentralization is that?

[CaVO32]

No person with even the most basic understanding of cryptocurrency would call Tether a decentralized cryptocurrency. Obviously, Tether the company is just being dishonest when they claim that the token is decentralized, they did that because "decentralized" was/is a very hyped thing. Of course they mean that it's decentralized because it exists on Ethereum network, so there's no middlemen when you move tokens, but the fact that the supply is created in a centralized way, the fact that the peg is maintained by a centralized company is enough to disqualify Tether from being decentralized.

They still have the full control to what they want for this token so it is not decentralized in any way.

No cryptocurrency that can be created at will is decentralized.

If you or anybody else could "make" a bitcoin and increase total supply to 21 million and 1 it wouldn't be a decentralized cryptocurrency anymore.

Tether can be made at any moment. They need a million - poof and there it is. What kind of decentralization is that?

This is the reason why I really don't believe what they are trying to claim that they have all the assets according to their supply. When they admitted at one point that they didn't have the full backing of USD, where they are pegged at, I start to doubt the authenticity of their claims.

[tabas]

Anyway the point I am trying to make is that Tether (USDT) is centralized around the Tether Limited's will to keep it going. This company is basically like a bank too.

Yes.
Tether is centralized and will never become decentralized crypto. It seems like a bank but they are more than that, they seem to be the central bank that can print unlimited Tether if they want to.
And that injection is causing bitcoin to pump.

[kidbounty]

The first sentence in the white paper of Tether (USDT) says the following. A digital token backed by fiat currency provides individuals and organizations with a
robust and decentralized method of exchanging value while using a familiar accounting unit.

Now don't get me wrong. I use USDT a lot, in fact I love it. The fixed price of $1 while being a cryptocurrency makes crypto transactions for purchasing services easy and beautiful.

But I keep thinking of how original paper money was created. In history we had gold for trading. Then gold became inconvenient so bankers offered to hold gold for paper that verifies how much gold is owed to customers. Then this paper became more convenient and was used instead of gold with the trust that its backed by gold. Then this paper a long time later became a currency that isn't backed by gold anymore.

Could the same happen with USDT. If everyone decided to claim original $$$ with their USDT, would Tether Limited issue it all making the price worthless?

Anyway the point I am trying to make is that Tether (USDT) is centralized around the Tether Limited's will to keep it going. This company is basically like a bank too.

yes you're right, from the start tether doesn't seem decentralized. they just use blockchain as a plus, because basically their system is more centralized. FIAT-backed coins sound pretty convincing, but I doubt they really do it. and in the end it will probably be what you say. like paper that replaces gold.

[khiholangkang]

Tether (USDT) is a stable currency and of course it is not decentralized because the price is very stable, if it is decentralized it is certain that the price will fluctuate dramatically like bitcoin or other altcoins

[nomenclatur]

USDT prices could fall if bitcoin continues to rise and make usdt not stable enough different from the gold that is really good for investment and the price can remain stable usually prices could also rise significantly and tend to have stable better if it can be combined so USDT can be had a fixed value.

[ilovealtcoins]

Tether is a company and they only issue USDT when there is a bond in the bank. Tether is a store of absolute value when 1USD = 1USDT, sometimes their exchange rate difference due to market transactions. Tether is issued on different blockchains, and they are still influenced by the Tether company.

[pixie85]

No cryptocurrency that can be created at will is decentralized.

If you or anybody else could "make" a bitcoin and increase total supply to 21 million and 1 it wouldn't be a decentralized cryptocurrency anymore.

Tether can be made at any moment. They need a million - poof and there it is. What kind of decentralization is that?

This is the reason why I really don't believe what they are trying to claim that they have all the assets according to their supply. When they admitted at one point that they didn't have the full backing of USD, where they are pegged at, I start to doubt the authenticity of their claims.

They don't have full backing and this was proven some time ago. I remember saying them admit it that in reality they have maybe 80% of the funds in circulation backed. So they are really not 100% backed and they hold cash equivalents so it's not all usd. They are lying about being 100% backed on their site to lure customers.

In what could spark yet another round of controversy, the co-founder of the most popular stablecoin, Tether (USDT), William Quigley, said that it wouldn’t matter if the cryptocurrency weren’t actually backed by US dollars as long as everyone agreed to value USDT at one dollar.

https://cryptopotato.com/it-doesnt-matter-if-tether-usdt-is-fully-backed-by-usd-co-founder-william-quigley-says/

So Tether does not have 100% traditional currency backing for its reserves. It has “cash equivalents,” which are presumably other cryptocurrencies (like pegging to a volatile asset is such a good way of ensuring stability). And some of its "reserves" are held in the form of loans that it has made to other parties. Tether has become an unregulated fractional reserve bank.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2019/03/14/tethers-u-s-dollar-peg-is-no-longer-credible/

[Uhde]

I think no. a decentralized cryptocurrency can not have a stable price. It has to be changed due to demand. But still i think usdt is needed as a stablecoin for us. Because it is sometimes hard and slow to exchange crypto to usd.

[BitcoinTurk]

Absolutely not, the project you mentioned is controlled by a business, and this business definitely hides many reserves and transactions. On the other hand, it is not to pass without reminding that the company that continues the management of this project is also not reliable. For this reason, the answer to the question you asked is clearly no, and it seems unlikely that this project will continue its life independently in the coming years.

[sana54210]

When there is a company behind a project, it is never decentralized, it could never be one, this is not only true for stablecoins but it is also true for regular altcoins as well that people do not see.

If there is a team behind a project, it could be a swap, it could be token, it could be defi, ieo, coin whatever it is in its core the fact it is that team makes it centralized. Everyone talks about big coins, like for example tron, that sounds like a big proper huge coin right?

I know for a fact that it is not decentralized, Justin Sun could do whatever he can do take control and do whatever he wants with it, what about XRP? The Ripple company could print 500 million more coins tomorrow if they want to, they have that right, you think that is decentralized? Aside from bitcoin and maybe few others there is no decentralized currency in crypto world.

[XCANA]

That's that worst and can't be a decentralized cryptocurrency because of couples of things around it existence. The company that created this coin are centralized and the process of that brought this coins into the cryptocurrency space is through centralization, so, what has centralization got to do with decentralization?. For them said they are decentralized then they are liars and should not be trusted

[Mtaiwo]

USDT is a stablecoin that is pegged to dollar, base on current state Usdt is centralize blockchain that blend a centralized governance structure with a decentralized network. but the basic fact is centralize..

[Silberman]

No cryptocurrency that can be created at will is decentralized.

If you or anybody else could "make" a bitcoin and increase total supply to 21 million and 1 it wouldn't be a decentralized cryptocurrency anymore.

Tether can be made at any moment. They need a million - poof and there it is. What kind of decentralization is that?

In theory in order to create one million in tether they must have one million dollars ready to enter their vaults, but that is just the theory because as I said before there have been accusations against tether that this is not the case, however it is really sad that this being a market for decentralized cryptocurrencies has tether as the third spot in the market and ripple on the fourth as well when we know it has very strong ties with many banks, it is as if people simply do not understand or care about this and it is a shame because if this continues to be true it may come the day in which one of those coins will take the first spot on this market away from bitcoin.

[Abiky]

The first sentence in the white paper of Tether (USDT) says the following. A digital token backed by fiat currency provides individuals and organizations with a
robust and decentralized method of exchanging value while using a familiar accounting unit.

Now don't get me wrong. I use USDT a lot, in fact I love it. The fixed price of $1 while being a cryptocurrency makes crypto transactions for purchasing services easy and beautiful.

But I keep thinking of how original paper money was created. In history we had gold for trading. Then gold became inconvenient so bankers offered to hold gold for paper that verifies how much gold is owed to customers. Then this paper became more convenient and was used instead of gold with the trust that its backed by gold. Then this paper a long time later became a currency that isn't backed by gold anymore.

Could the same happen with USDT. If everyone decided to claim original $$$ with their USDT, would Tether Limited issue it all making the price worthless?

Anyway the point I am trying to make is that Tether (USDT) is centralized around the Tether Limited's will to keep it going. This company is basically like a bank too.

Tether's claims that its stablecoin is "decentralized" is just another scheme to attract people into it. Deep inside, it's all centralized as the company has the power to freeze or restrict access to your funds at will. It has been shown over time that Tether has "blacklisted" several USDT addresses on the Ethereum blockchain. This greatly defeats the purpose crypto and Blockchain technology was created for. The Tether's stablecoin is nothing more than "Central Banking 2.0".

For anyone's reference, here's a detailed list of all ETH addresses with USDT tokens that were banned by Tether: https://explore.duneanalytics.com/public/dashboards/3zhIaRUCFgmZMKqHG0pguvSvw1aOGL8gxFtZ2ujf. According to the site, there had been a total of 209 banned addresses on the ETH blockchain. This shows us how heavily centralized USDT is. But most people don't care about this, as they prefer convenience above all else. After all, Tether's stablecoin is the #1 Fiat-pegged asset on the crypto market. Despite its inherently-centralized design, the stablecoin enjoys of a large ecosystem of apps and exchanges backing it every step of the way. Ultimately, decentralized stablecoins (like DAI and bitUSD) will fulfill the purpose of crypto/Blockchain technology. They won't be able to gather massive adoption in the mainstream world (as Tether is in the spotlight right now), but they're proven alternatives for those looking into censorship resistance above all else. I wouldn't be surprised if Tether's USDT stablecoin goes down the drain in the future.

Nonetheless, many things can happen from Tether shutting down its operations to a full government crackdown. That's what you get with a centralized stablecoin which is no different than traditional Fiat (USD, EUR, etc.). As long as people continue to patronize centralized projects and exchanges, the crypto/Blockchain industry will be unable to fulfill its true purpose (which is to eliminate the middleman from the system). Time will tell us how long Tether (USDT) will last in the crypto/Blockchain space. Just my opinion

[mindrust]

No cryptocurrency that can be created at will is decentralized.

If you or anybody else could "make" a bitcoin and increase total supply to 21 million and 1 it wouldn't be a decentralized cryptocurrency anymore.

Tether can be made at any moment. They need a million - poof and there it is. What kind of decentralization is that?

In theory in order to create one million in tether they must have one million dollars ready to enter their vaults, but that is just the theory because as I said before there have been accusations against tether that this is not the case, however it is really sad that this being a market for decentralized cryptocurrencies has tether as the third spot in the market and ripple on the fourth as well when we know it has very strong ties with many banks, it is as if people simply do not understand or care about this and it is a shame because if this continues to be true it may come the day in which one of those coins will take the first spot on this market away from bitcoin.

Tether's marketcap grow x4 this year alone. Another x3 and Tether would be at the 2nd spot right after bitcoin.

What is more interesting than tether having no funds to back their currency, it is the US closing their eyes and ears to this. Banks don't let the exchanges use their services because they are afraid of the US government, and now the same exchanges can use USD without needing banks for any purpose. On the other hand, the US can close those exchanges or kill tether if they wanted to but for some reason they don't. Which makes it even more interesting.

[X-ray]

USDT is a stablecoin that is pegged to dollar, base on current state Usdt is centralize blockchain that blend a centralized governance structure with a decentralized network. but the basic fact is centralize..

The network just provide an infrastructure for tether to be able to use its coin but how decentralized or centralized tether actually depend on the governance that has used by the company. Remember about the decentralization will never try to put the backdoor for the company to be able to control the distribution of coins.
Tether was also able doing it to block any suspicious amounts that owned by its users.