The Fall of Tether and What It Means for the Cryptocurrency Markets

The Beginning of the End or the Start of a New Dawn?

- Tether’s trading volume has built up over time, leading to it becoming the second most traded crypto after BTC (USDT 24-hour volume currently stands at $4.8B)
- Bitfinex’s failure to publish an audit has led to fears that tether could be backed by nothing, or at least not enough to cover the 2.5 billion tethers in circulation
- Bitfinex’s struggle to obtain a banking partner has exacerbated the problem
- Rumors of Tether/Bitfinex being subpoenaed and potentially shut down have swirled for months
- Last week Bitfinex lost its latest bank, HSBC, forcing it to suspend fiat deposits
- A steady stream of criticism has poisoned the Tether brand, leaving confidence in the stablecoin at an all-time low
- Wary of being trapped in an asset that’s a prime target for FUD (both real and false), traders have exchanged USDT for BTC or other stablecoins
- This has caused the price of tether to slip and other stablecoins to trade at a premium

Without dumb money entering the system, you can’t offload your shitcoins, thus you’ll all be sitting on bags, and the market will become inert. It’s gonna be a bad, bad turn, regardless of what happens.
I hope some Tether person writes up an insider’s description of what is happening behind the scenes right now as the peg fails; I’m sure there are lessons other “stablecoins” can learn.
— Gavin Andresen (@gavinandresen) October 15, 2018
Exchanges Rush to Introduce New Stablecoins

Should Bitfinex succeed in restoring its banking arrangements this week, as the exchange has promised, it is conceivable that the move could restore faith in tether, which may regain the $1 peg it has adhered to so faithfully until this week. Whether tether is backed or unbacked, audited or unaudited, its status — from a technical perspective — has not changed in the past seven days. Psychologically, though, everything has changed. Like a cheating spouse, a stablecoin that’s been caught out once will always be suspected of straying again. While the markets will weather this period of uncertainty, for tether there may be no way back. Where tether and Bitfinex go from here is anyone’s guess. Do you think this is the end for tether, or will the stablecoin recover? Let us know in the comments section below.It's time to reflect on all the people that were telling you that the Tether situation is all FUD and that it's perfectly normal. Countless of people reached out to me in the past week and criticized me for covering what's going on and calling me a conspiracy theorist
— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) October 15, 2018
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, 4chan and Twitter.
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Banking BitFinex FUD Markets and Prices N-Markets and Prices Stablecoin Tether tethered tusd USDT