Austin Shvarts to The Crypt0's News Group
I keep hearing people say "Tether only has a $2.4 billion market cap, and the total cryptocurrency market cap is over $500 billion, its tiny in comparison."
While that is true, it simply does not paint the whole picture.
Consider the following FACTS:
At the time of this post, Tether accounts for 12% of the entire markets 24h trading volume.
30 day monthly trade volume of Tether = $90 billion
30 day monthly trade volume of Bitcoin = $398 billion
The point being, there is an enormous amount of trades being facilitated via Tether.
Furthermore, the CEO of Tether and Bifinex are the same person.
Bitfinex holds the HIGHEST 24h trade volume for bitcoin @ 7.3%, and is among the top 5 largest exchanges in the world.
Furthermore, the news of Tether being subpoenaed by the US Gov't, and their 3rd party auditor severing ties with them both coincidentally came out around the same time.
End of facts...
If Tether does get proven to be a scam in US Court, Tether will probably be shut down. The remaining people holding Tether at the time of its shutdown could lose a total of approx $2 billion.
Again, yes its only $2.4 billion market cap, but it accounts for OVER 10% OF DAILY TRADING VOLUME!! That is massive. Tether plays a huge role in crypto trading, and without Tether a huge aspect of trading will be lost.
Bitfinex may go down too because of their affiliation with Tether.
All of the people holding Tether on other exchanges will look for reimbursement from their exchange, causing an even more messy situation.
I am still bullish long term for crypto, but how far could this scenario set us back?
In conclusion, we better hope that Tether backs it shit up!