They could be backed in USD denominated illiquid assets that may take time to unwound (it's kinda dumb from a treasury management POV if you keep everything in cash).
They can use overnight instruments, and its still pretty much impossible for there to be a bank run.
But it begs the question, is Tether meant to be a viable stablecoin, or is it a fractional reserve piggy bank for the Tether owners to earn interest from?
Clearly they're running it like the latter. Why would the crypto industry consolidate on something scammy like that?
That's a good point. If it's a pure stablecoin, would it be sustainable? It doesn't make sense to run a stablecoin as a charity/loss leader as there is a very real cost to treasury management and depreciation unless Bitfinex is trying to commoditize their complement.
Plenty of money market funds run with 0.1% fees. SGOV for one. These things aren't expensive to manage, it's pretty much on autopilot.
Ideally a stablecoin would be non-profit and run strictly for quality purposes with audits etc. Why would you ever need more than one? The desire to skim some off the top is far too pervasive in crypto
But it begs the question, is Tether meant to be a viable stablecoin, or is it a fractional reserve piggy bank for the Tether owners to earn interest from?
Clearly they're running it like the latter. Why would the crypto industry consolidate on something scammy like that?