[shkkmo]

> As I understand it, you could exchange USDT for real USD at any participating exchange. Not being able to convert USDT would mean not being able to withdraw from any of those exchanges

That's selling Tether, not withdrawing Tether from the pool.

The point is, since it was already effectively impossible to withdraw any Tethers from the pool, does it really matter that the fund that backs those tethers can only support withdrawing 74% of the available USDT?

Currencies doesn't have to be backed to have value. Ours used to be backed by gold, but then we figured out that doesn't necessarily matter as long as people have to use it and the supply of it matches demand consistently enough.

So the interesting question is, will they be able to keep the price pegged to USD by selling and buying USDT in sufficient quantities to keep the price stable.

This is rather the point this comment is making: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19793326