Traders value Bitcoin the same in USDT or USDC, and USDT / USDC trades at parity. That implies the market trusts USDT. It doesn't matter what people on HN say, as long as the market agrees.
1. ...that "the feds are debasing our currency through their relentless printing"
It is producing a measured, consistent, relatively small 2% rate of inflation over decades and decades. They are of course acting on behalf of an elected body, and ultimately accountable to that body. They're also audited.
2. ...that Tether's relentless, un-audited, 70%-at-most backed printing is fine because the "market trusts it" and "nobody's forcing you to use it."
The market trusts it because number go up, and it's in the interest of exactly zero market participants to show the world the emperor has no clothes.
It's also not fair to say that "nobody's forced to use it" when everyone is forced to use it. In 2018, 80% of all crypto exchange transactions were conducted in Tether. That makes USD transactions by far the minority. Since arbitrage bots keep the prices in sync, and the majority is USDT, even the USD exchanges follow the USDT prices so long as there exists sufficient liquidity to balance the books. [1]
[1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mystery-behind-tether-the-c...
That body being whom?
>They're also audited.
By whom?
All of this information you can obtain via quick google.
Doesn't that auditor owe FRS $17T?
[1] https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed46.html
The idea is that you use it to invest: into real estate, into equities, into bonds, heck even a savings account collateralizes mortgages. Yes, even your magic beans represent the system working. The system is designed to encourage the continued survival of the most economically fit companies, etc, by your picking winners.
Don't hold money. Certainly not more than you need in the event of an emergency.
Yes, for very short periods of time, ideally. To the extent that remains true the effect of inflation is smoothed out. As at each stage in the transaction chain prices can adjust pricing to reflect inflation. Think of it like a continuously variable transmission. Yes, it has gears. But the effect is basically smoothed out if you do it quickly enough.
> Saying “don’t hold money” tells me everything I need to know about your understanding of economics.
It clearly doesn't.
In such an environment you want to get rid of your USD as fast as possible and turn them into something you value, whether it be land or whatever. The money itself is by design an inflationary currency. Most people don't understand this, which is just fine with the people who print the money and the ones who distribute and loan it out.
Now, having lots of liquid cash AKA liquidity is a good thing as long as you get rid of it soon by putting it in assets. Lots of people gladly go into debt taking out loans to buy productive assets and declare bankruptcy multiple times playing this kind of game. It's kind of insane in a way.
> The market trusts it because number go up, and it's in the interest of exactly zero market participants to show the world the emperor has no clothes.
Wouldn't work on extreme market fluctuations. Bitcoin dropped 50% and USDT still hold the peg. Bitcoin then almost tripled in a short period and USDT still hold the peg. I'm not sure if they have full reserves or running some magic; but whatever they are doing is working very well.
We know they don't have full reserves because we know 30% of them were seized. [1]
> ...but whatever they are doing is working very well.
Frauds work until they don't.
[1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/head-of-crypto-capital-arrest...
You suspect they don't have full reserves because you know 30% of them were seized. Presuming "full reserves" means 1:1 backing (what else could it mean, here?), your statement assumes they had exactly 1:1 reserves before the seizure. If they had more than that, your assumption could end up false.
So sure, you suspect. From what I've read in this thread, I tend to agree. But I fail to see how you know.
Presumably they buy tether when it's under $1 and sell it when it's over $1 to maintain the peg. Not magic.
"It doesn't matter what those crazy geologists say, as long volcano hasn't exploded yet."
The market can never overvalue or undervalue? Hmm...
It is a fact that at present, you can't replace your entire life with cryptocurrency transactions, but the actions of the Federal Reserve over the last few months demonstrate how useful it is to have a parallel construct that actually represents an asset that isn't immediately able to be transmogrified by actions of a shadowy cabal (JPow in particular, who with his 50mm nest egg stuck in a hole at BlackRock, has a direct incentive to keep markets afloat)
Just my $0.02