How Tether Helps To Fund The US Governmentodysee.com/@TraderUniversity:a/how-tether-helps-to-fund-the-us:c?r=8T2xqWjtafHWYGxQBSsrbw1wQPm7sWRq
325 sats \ 12 comments \ @Undisciplined 30 Jul econ
From Matthew Kratter's Bitcoin University

Video Description

In this video, I discuss how Tether helps to prop up the US government by buying its debt and extending US dollar hegemony in the global south.
Many Bitcoiners seem content to look the other way, often because they are directly or indirectly on Tether's payroll.
Are we as Bitcoiners still going to be cheering on Tether when it is the #1 buyer of US Treasuries in the world in a few years from now? How are Bitcoiners going to rationalize supporting it at that point, when it's buying more Treasuries that Japan and China combined?
Here are the stark facts:
  • Tether exists only by the grace of Uncle Sam who refuses to go after the banks that hold Treasuries for Tether.
  • Tether helps to prop up the US government by buying its debt.
  • Tether spreads US dollar hegemony wherever it goes.
It's high time to "cut the tether" that's holding back humanity.
I don't care that Tether has been buying Bitcoin for its treasury or that it invests in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Those are two activities that any smart and successful company will do anyway.
Just because the drug lord is paying for your schools and hospitals doesn't mean that you wouldn't still be better off not living under a drug lord.
As for me, I want to use Bitcoin to help to defund the US government, not to expand its funding through USD stablecoins.
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223 sats \ 7 replies \ @grayruby 30 Jul
Stablecoins are going to exist. I don't like them either but it's a reality. Personally I would rather see tether thrive than USDC which is one step from a CBDC.
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60 sats \ 6 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 30 Jul
I've never really grasped the appeal of stable coins, but I'm generally an all-in or all-out person.
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246 sats \ 2 replies \ @grayruby 30 Jul
Personally if I were to send money globally I would send bitcoin but not everyone wants bitcoin because they can't spend it. My wife sends a donation to this church group in Africa quarterly that helps them buy food and supplies for churches and schools in remote areas. They use some African version of paypal to execute the transactions and it costs a lot. I think 20 dollars in fees for her to send 150 dollars. I wrote to them and suggested they take bitcoin over lightning but they said they were not interested because all of their suppliers only take the local currency or USD. That's a good example where a stablecoin could be super useful. If all the local vendors were able to take tether for instance, my wife could send the charity tether (over lightning soon) and they could pay their suppliers tether and not have to pay ridiculous fees to however many banking middlemen sit in the middle of the money transfer via the tradfi way.
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50 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined OP 30 Jul
They still need locals to accept Tether, though. I'm not sure that's a different hurdle than accepting Bitcoin, unless the traditional financial service providers start accepting Tether as though it were dollars.
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69 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 30 Jul
You are right. There would still need to be an ecosystem of people accepting it, but I just think there is that added knowledge hurdle with bitcoin that people need to get over where as they already understand a digital representation of a dollar, whether that is onchain or not is meaningless to them.
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31 sats \ 2 replies \ @guts 30 Jul
Stablecoins bridge the gap between traditional finance and crypto, offering the benefits of digital currencies with reduced volatility. They serve as a safe haven during market turbulence and facilitate easier crypto transactions, appealing to those seeking a middle ground in the volatile crypto space.
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50 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 30 Jul
I’m just not sure how much demand there’s going to be for that. I more or less understand the idea.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 30 Jul
Did you get that from chat gpt?
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42 sats \ 0 replies \ @TomK 30 Jul
Yes, I had often thought about Tether in the past year or two. The fact that there was never a major attack either from the US government or the central bank was very suspicious. The fact that it is now being used as a vehicle for neo-colonialism of the US dollar is quite interesting, as they are actually trying to take control of the euro-dollar market. Covering tether with Treasuries and Bitcoin shows the way that the state will try to integrate Bitcoin into its infrastructure.
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21 sats \ 2 replies \ @Satosora 31 Jul
Is Tether really that prevalent? I didnt realize it had gotten so big.
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20 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined OP 31 Jul
Me neither.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 31 Jul
I thought it was like bitcoin cash and kind of disappeared. Wasnt there something else that was tied to the dollar? Other than tether?
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