my thoughts on tether 📝
nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzqpxfzhdwlm3cx9l6wdzyft8w8y9gy607tqgtyfq7tekaxs7lhmxfqqj9get5dpjhyt25dpjj63r0d45kuctwwsk4256y942x76m9dcknzmmpvfkrsh4rmmd
Discussion
loving the notes Odell 👍🏾
You haven't mentioned that Tether has never been audited. Despite the users asking for an independent audit of Tether's reserves, Tether has refused to do an audit to this date. This behavior is suspicious to say the least.
Attestations are NOT audits.
my guess is they do a big four audit shortly as part of the process of formalizing their relationship with the us gov but we shall see
You misunderstand. One key benefit of tether getting establishment approval is that nobody in the establishment expects them (or anyone else) to be full reserve. That's something you only do if you're trying to appeal to weird cypherpunks and Austrians whackos.
This is great cause we should talk about this more. The danger is not going to knock on the front door, it's going to be hard to see by design
I agree with all of this, aside from one thing. This is pure speculation but how logical game theory would play out, is that they did not approach the US govt--the US govt approached them.
They would have offered a stick (jail, shut down, etc.) and a carrot (freedom, $$$$$$$$). Tether took the carrot. This is just how i would expect it to happen with every stablecoin issuer at scale. It's complicated and nuanced with pros and cons, but tether is captured by the state--which means that it's effectively a CBDC with extra steps.
One can try to justify Tether's existence in a million ways, but there's only one word to describe it: SHITCOIN.
Poor take
💯