>If they are holders of USDT they have not sold their crypto
Technically USDT is a cryptocurrency but I can't think of a real reason why someone who cashed out of BTC would keep it in USDT rather than cashing out for real USD (the FDIC insured and in a licensed bank kind). If you're only cashing out for a short period of time and are planning to buy back, then you're not really "out", and I doubt that all the tether that's out there is coming from people who wants out for only a week or two.
Because the ecosystem has been offerint 8-20% interest to hold USDT and put it in a savings account or defi contract.
It was seeing these rates that made me believe the market was a ponzi. Somehow the system has created a strong incentive to hold USDT rather than USD in the form of divergent interest rates. And 12% is crazy high: Madoff claimed returns of 10%.
There could be a benign explanation but my bet would be that various market actors are propping up the system short run with unsustainable interest payoffs to stave off withdrawal attempts to maintain the Tether peg. Huge house of cards.
> Because the ecosystem has been offerint 8-20% interest to hold USDT and put it in a savings account or defi contract.
1. do the defi contracts not accept other stablecoins? Does USDT have a disproportionately higher interest rate than more reputable stablecoins?
2. This situation (large amount of USD being parked in USDT, people warning that it's a fraud) has existed since the last run-up (2017-2018), before defi got popular. So while there might be people parking their money in USDT to earn absurdly high interest rates, I don't think that's the whole story. It'll also be interesting to see how much USDT is locked in defi contracts vs that's issued.
The first is a solid point. I’m not sure USDT has a higher interest rate than, say, USDC.
The second actually isn’t compelling though. If you have a fraud with, say, 10% daily interest in will unwind in months. But a fraud with 10-20% annual interest will take years. Madoff kept his scheme going 20+ years.
Technically USDT is a cryptocurrency but I can't think of a real reason why someone who cashed out of BTC would keep it in USDT rather than cashing out for real USD (the FDIC insured and in a licensed bank kind). If you're only cashing out for a short period of time and are planning to buy back, then you're not really "out", and I doubt that all the tether that's out there is coming from people who wants out for only a week or two.