Is there a mechanism for Tether to collapse on its own or does the collapse have to necessarily come from regulation? If the SEC do nothing about this, can Tether keep printing forever?
There’s also a certain point where they can no longer “print” coins that are believably backed. If tether is to be believed (and, for the record, I’m of the opinion they shouldn’t be) then they’re already responsible for an absurd portion of the commercial paper market.
Pretending to be fully backed by USD didn't work out, so now they pretend to hold equivalent assets.
SEC action could be a cause for such a loss of trust, but you can imagine many others, such as leaks (of damning information) from insiders, other exchanges unlisting USDT, and so on.