[fallinditch]

Here's a fascinating piece of history that sheds light on the Bitfinex/FTX/Tether shenanigans. Originally a Medium post that was removed at some point, here's an archived copy. It details how Bitfinex/Tether manipulated BTC to make serious $$.

I think the article also points to the origins of the FTX fraud: was Sam Bankman Fried involved in these BTC manipulations? Or inspired by it to create his own exchange?

https://web.archive.org/web/20180620111632/https://medium.co...

[fallinditch]

TL:DR "USDT was used to pump other traded pairs in order to avoid raising the price of BTC directly.

Once BTC was obtained from the pumps of these currencies, it was then sold immediately for USD, which ‘flooded’ the market and depressed the price of BTC."

[earnesti]

As the article states, nothing has been proven. Didn't read further than that.

Tether is an operation that is a money printing machine on its own. They absolutely don't need to play pump'n'dump tricks to make money. It doesn't make any sense. Pump'n'dump schemes are risky. Tether has many options to make money with way less risk.

[popcalc]

Pump'n'dumps are far less risky than running a massive ponzi?