Tether is holding US commercial paper, yes, but they won't reveal WHO they've loaned to, or under what terms. Most likely, they have created new shell corporations, made sweetheart loans to them from the Tether bank account, and then had them pay out distributions to the owners. In other words, they've replaced the cash that should be backing the Tether with likely worthless IOUs. Tether is a bomb waiting to explode the crypto space.