This "FUD" could be easily dismissed by showing a bank account statement containing these $814M. The fact that Bitfinex doesn't do that means they have something to hide or are in serious trouble.
I wouldn't trust private company that claims to back crypto currency 1-to-1 with USD, but doesn't back these claims with numbers in any way. The fact that they are not legally obligated to do so doesn't change that.
Then we can assume the money does not exist, and that it's an $800M fraud.
- Skepticism about the tether reserves is FUD,
- meaning that we should believe it is there.
- But we cannot ask for proof of an easily verifiable claim that the money exists, because certainty that it exists is a trade secret.
Is this an accurate reflection of your position?
That has the effect of adding 800M of fakeness, which may not be a big deal given the market caps of these cryptos, but perhaps more importantly it has the effect of weakening faith in the crypto project.