[eightysixfour]

> but it doesn't make value out of thin air

You are right, but it can drive the price. Imagine you have an infinite supply of USDT and are deeply in debt, people currently believe the USDT are backed by $1. You are incentivized to create USDT, trade for Bitcoin/crypto and then, since you are also an exchange, create fake trading volume with yourself to drive the price up (it costs you nothing, just some fake $0 USDT!), which drives people to get in with real money.

Do you not see how the incentives here are for Bitfinex and Tether to behave terribly?

I think it is worth noting that I am pro-cryptocurrency and want alternatives to government backed fiat to exist, but to do that the whole industry needs to operate on solid, transparent foundations. People choosing to trust companies that have lied to them repeatedly is an enabling behavior that will result in more scammers and, eventually, regulators.