You could make money off Tether's collapse if you shorted it the simple way (and managed to time it very well) - borrow units of Tether from someone, sell them at $1 (ka-ching) later purchase the same quantity Tether at $0.00001 and return them to your lender for a tidy profit.

I suppose if Tether collapsed to the extent that it was impossible to trade it at all, you'd have a hard time buying the worthless Tether back. What happens if you're short a stock traded only on the NYSE and the stock exchange itself disbands? Or maybe the better analogue is, how do you fulfill your end of the deal as a short seller and return the shares owed to your counterparty if the company disbands in the meantime?