Tether is a cryptocurrency designed to be pegged to the USD in a 1-to-1 ratio. Doubts about whether or not this is true have been floating around for months now, but Tether mostly left the news cycle since the $30m hack back in November. However, it's back in full force now as their relationship with their auditor recently dissolved. Is this the end for Tether?
Nobody knows, and the reality is that establishing a time-line of such an event is near impossible. However, what we do know is that Tether has been increasing the rate at which they print money. Most of the crypto community is cautious about it even if they use it, suggestings its public perception isn't the highest. They've have many issues with banking - What do you think the odds are that serious individuals and businesses have increasing demand for Tether which matches the rate at which they are being created?
Even if Tether ISN'T a scam though, they have massive regulatory risk. The primary function of Tether is to bypass regulations and capital controls that exchanges face with using the real USD or other fiat currencies. As they grow larger and larger, Tether will paint a bigger and bigger target on their heads and eventually the US government or another government will likely take action against them.
However, I still suspect Tether is a scam either way as it looks and behaves like one. When Tether retailiates against the accusations made against them by Bitfinexed, they sound like children rather than professionals (a characteristic I have seen as particularly common in the crypto space). The dissolvement of their relationship with their auditor suggests the auditor found details that Tether wasn't comfortable with revealing.
If it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. It is highly probable Tether is a scam and if it is well interconnected with Bitfinex as many suspect, then this poses a huge systemic and systematic risk to cryptocurrencies as a whole. Keep a close eye and be cautious. Thanks for watching / reading!