Tether is a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency that must be worth $1 because it is supported by real US dollars.
- The stablecoin is central to the cryptocurrency to help traders to move money from one platform to another.
- Over the summer, the rapid growth of Tether caught the attention of traders and regulators, who stated it is a risk to the overall financial system.
- Today, there are 69 billion Tethers in circulation that imply that the company that issues them should hold matching $69 billion of assets to support them, making it one of the top 50 US banks but unregulated.
- Tether has invested some of its reserves in Chinese commercial paper, a strategy that money-market funds have avoided.
- Tether Holdings Ltd has also made billions of dollars of crypto-supported loans. Some of the loans have Bitcoin as collateral, making it a risky move because of the high volatility of Bitcoin.
Tether executives are also responsible for causing huge risks to Tether’s reserves against the token, including being subjects of US criminal investigations and investing reserves in a high-risk offshore hedge fund.
USDT USD +0.01%Source: Bloomberg
