Bitcoin Concerns on SeekingAlpha Article

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4142799-bitcoin-concerns?ifp=0
More Imminent Concern: Tether
A much more serious concern to me is Tether.

Here is a very simplistic overview. Tether ("USDT") is a "stable coin" intended to maintain a stable value, pegged to some outside asset. Tether, as used here is "tethered" to the USD dollar. One USDT is worth $1.

Live Coin Watch: The price and volume of USDT over the past quarter

Tether is owned by folks who control one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges, Bitfinex. Tether was created when Bitfinex had some trouble with their banks closing their accounts. As a result, Bitfinex stopped trading in USD and began instead trading in USDT/Tether. This allows Bitfinex to continue its operations as normal, but without having to deal with banks closing their accounts. Instead, Bitfinex keeps US dollars in reserve at a bank and issues USDT. That USDT is then traded on Bitfinex and on other exchanges, like other cryptos.

There is about $2.2 billion worth of USDT, and it trades in huge volumes. Live Coin Watch lists ~ $3.2 billion in USDT trading in the past 24 hours.

The problem with all of this is that it isn't clear that Bitfinex actually has US$2.2 billion in reserve at any bank.