[Vervious]

The main question that requires answering, I think, is why we let Tether and Bitfinex print a bunch of Tether and buy a bunch of Bitcoin during low volume periods. The Bloomberg report et al and the SEC both suggest that this is happening, constituting clear price manipulation.

Is that not by definition fraud? It's like the US federal reserve printing a bunch of stimulus. At least our central banks are nominally appointed by elected officials, on the basis of a social contract.

[jcburnham]

Tether and Bitfinex are certainly highly dubious and I would not at all be surprised if what they've done rises to the level of fraud. So far they have remained mostly out of the courts, but there's a wonderful quote by @patio11:

> Bitfinex and its principals have not yet been indicted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, but crucially, not in the same sense that you have not been indicted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

https://www.kalzumeus.com/2019/10/28/tether-and-bitfinex/

I definitely am not in any way pro-Tether, and I think the industry/the world would be better off without them. However, I do not think this implies a. that Tether serves no function, b. that their collapse will bring down wider markets or c. that this meaningfully reflects on the ethics of cryptocurrency as a whole.

As far as central banks go, I would love to see the adoption of a central bank digital currency at the Fed, ideally with accounts open to the general public. This would combat the plague of regressive fees at commercial banks, allow future economic stimulus to go directly to spenders, and perhaps even allow people to transfer money over the weekend.