After over a month of absence Tether has returned to the USDT printing business, issuing $300 million worth in just one massive batch. The proximity of the move to the recent reversal of the downtrend in the market has lead to renewed calls by critics that Tether is manipulating prices.
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$300 Million USDT
Omni blockchain transaction data reveals that Tether has created $300 million worth of new USDT tokens. Like with previous printing sprees by Tether, the lack of transparency behind the operations of the stablecoin has caused critics to suggest some kind of foul play was behind the massive new grant.
The last time Tether was found to be actively printing was in Mid February, and since then it let its metaphorical printers a rest. As the past month wasn’t the best performing to say the least, some people linked that with Tether not propping up prices. And as the prices recovered around the same time the new $300 million USDT grant was issued, it seems to confirm for these critics their concern.
Who Is Leading the Markets?
While this new printing’s supposed link to the price recovery is anecdotal and coincidental, it does seem to have an effect on traders’ behavior. The news was quickly circulated in various traders’ forums such as pump and dump groups on Telegram, where people seem to have taken it as if Tether has placed a floor on the price of bitcoin – reacting the same way FX traders would to a central bank setting a minimum acceptable exchange rate for its currency and defending it by open market actions. This by itself can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A research that was published earlier this year found little real statistical evidence that USDT printing is correlated with the price of bitcoin. However, Tether is fueling the speculations around its actions by its continued secrecy. Outside observers can only try to track down the banks that the company must use to hold incredible amounts of USD to back its USDT on a 1:1 basis. It has also lead to exchanges turning to competing stablecoins.
Are tether printing $300 million and the recent bitcoin price reversal linked? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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