CFTC Orders Tether and Bitfinex to Pay Fines Totaling $42.5M
Have you ever heard of "The Narcissist's Prayer"? It goes like this:<p>That didn't happen.<p>And if it did, it wasn't that bad.<p>And if it was, that's not a big deal.<p>And if it is, that's not my fault.<p>And if it was, I didn't mean it.<p>And if I did...<p>You deserved it.<p>Tether defenders are really working their way through the steps here.<p>18 months ago, it was "That didn't happen." (Tether is 100% backed by USD cash.)<p>6 months ago, it "wasn't that bad." (It might not be 100% USD cash, but it's cash-equivalent assets like short-term commercial paper.)<p>Now that there's strong evidence the commercial paper is just fake money shuffling between Tether/Binfinex/other shady crypto investments we get "that's not a big deal." (Look at the way banks work! They only need 4% collateral! Tether's probably got at least that much...)<p>Next step is finding out that their actual liquidity isn't capable of holding up under a real-life stress test, and the defenders will be talking about "not my fault." (This was a once-in-a-lifetime crash, they couldn't have foreseen it, crypto's still way better than the fiat banking system!)<p>When thousands of people lose their retirements in a gigantic defi crash, it'll be "you deserved it." (Everyone knows crypto is risky, you shouldn't have believed Tether was the same as USD.)