An $814M Mystery Near the Heart of the Biggest Bitcoin Exchange
I found this comment, by Richard Berger on SeekingAlpha, compelling:<p>> STOP! and think about what this author has revealed. Even IF Tether is NOT running a fraud, the arbitrage positions that automatically exist between Bitcoin and any tether are real and do create incentive to create an arbitraged feedback loop whereby a pegged tether between Bitcoin - any_generic_tether - USD does exist and self feeds, driving up Bitcoin exactly as the author contends may be happening with the current Tether. So long as such a scheme emerges naturally out of the system design, the design is fatally flawed and must asymptotically compound grow to an infinite exchange rate (impossible and unsustainable by definition), or it must ultimately collapse.<p>> Thus, the author has demonstrated a basic inherent flaw to crypto-currencies that can not be repaired other than by legal estoppel. Legal estoppel will never occur because jurisdiction is off-shored and proving a case by case would generate infinite litigation along with each estoppel creating a crash. This in itself would kill the cryptos as surely as the fatal flaw itself will.<p>> It is meaningless to argue WHETHER the author's speculation as to Tether's actions are fraud. The ONLY question is if his identifying of the nature of the available arbitrage can exist in reality. If it can, crypto is dead. No other conclusion is available.<p><a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4129543-bitcoin-one-way-go-true#comment-76992585" rel="nofollow">https://seekingalpha.com/article/4129543-bitcoin-one-way-go-...</a>