Is there a meaningful difference between them paying the influencers in USDT compared to paying them in USD? It doesn't seem hard to convert the USDT to USD at par so I can't see the difference.
Even the staunchest believer in crypto will have a hunch there's something funny going on with Tether, but so far most people have been willing to look the other way as Tether and other stablecoins answer a genuine need: how to represent fiat money in the crypto ecosystem when centralized banks refuse to play along with their own downfall.
1. is paying influencers USDT going to increase liquidity or decrease it? From a maker-taker model, I'd think that will decrease liquidity because those influencers are probably going to place a market order which reduces liquidity.
2. Is the typical influencers (or the average influencer they hired) going to have trouble converting USDT to USD? My profile of them would be 18-35 year old, middle to upper class, living in a developed country (or at least not a country that's subject to USD sanctions). It doesn't seem hard for those people to accept a USD wire transfer.
>Even the staunchest believer in crypto will have a hunch there's something funny going on with Tether, but so far most people have been willing to look the other way as Tether and other stablecoins answer a genuine need: how to represent fiat money in the crypto ecosystem when centralized banks refuse to play along with their own downfall.
Agreed, I avoid holding USDT where possible.
It seems to me the crypto folks on one hand complain about the governance of USD, but then also "need" it to stabilize their own currency. I thought crypto was the currency of the future.
Yes. You print USDT and pay someone then lie about not printing it.
For the love of god, don't hold any USDT. Its really convenient to exchange cryptos but don't be holding it when the cards fall.
1. bitfinex asks some influencer to do some influencer things for them
2. bitfinex hands them a $100 bill
but the following isn't fine:
2. bitfinex hands them 100 USDT tokens
But hold on, corporations don't often pay people using paper bills, they pay them using ACH, so is the following fine?
2. bitfinex transfers $100 to their bank using ACH
Probably fine right, given that there isn't really a difference between getting paid in ACH vs paper bills. But some companies are old fashioned and don't do ACH transfers, they issue checks instead. So is the following fine?
2. bitfinex writes them a check for $100
Well, a check is just an IOU right? It's only a promise to pay them something. If you try to deposit the check and the check bounces it's not like the FDIC will save you. You'll have to chase after them for it. Given that fact, and recognizing that USDT is just an IOU, is there any difference between the above and
2. bitfinex gives them 100 USDT tokens
?
Bitfinex could either issue some USDT, convert it to USD and hand that to the influencer, or issue some USDT and hand that to the influencer. Can't really see the difference here, except if they hand over USDT that will hype the market a bit as well? As long as the conversion works they two are functionally the same.
Same with USDT. Cash it for Bitcoin and then provide services.