• It's issued and controlled by a central authority that you must trust.
• It's pegged to an inflationary government-issued fiat currency.
It's not a cryptocurrency. It's just a dodgy private bank with a very over-engineered inefficient API.
It doesn't matter it it's a stable coin, a pump and dump scheme, or a regular fiat currency. If they see the chance to get a x10 or x100 profit in a year they'll go for it.
So Tether to them is just a tool that allow them to buy and sell crypto and make profit.
Regardless, for the tether skeptics, they should put their money where their mouth is and short it.
PS: I personally think tether is sketchy, but it's not something I lose sleep over. However it is prudent for one to think about what will happen in the case of a tether depeg (both minor and major), and plan accordingly so you won't become destitute if it happens.
Of course there's an argument to be made that cryptocurrencies as we now know them will only ever have intended use as a secondary currency. In which case, fair enough.