The controversial Tether cryptocurrency has replaced Bitcoin as the most used cyber money. Although bitcoin still has the largest market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies so far, according to data from CoinMarketCap's website, Tether's daily volume has been steadily higher than bitcoin for several weeks.
Saturday data shows that $ 19 billion of Tether coins have been exchanged in cryptocurrencies around the world, compared to $ 15 billion worth of Bitcoins.
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According to some experts, Tether has become the most important currency in the world of cryptocurrency. This digital money is the so-called Stablecoin - a fixed-price cryptocurrency linked to conventional currency. It should therefore, as the name implies, be more stable than other cryptocurrencies with its sometimes unusually volatile exchange rates.
According to the authors, Hong Kong-based Tether is pegged to the dollar and covered by reserves. However, there is considerable doubt about the statements and business behavior of the Tether creators. Until a few months ago, they claimed to keep a dollar in reserve for every digital coin issued, but then suddenly admitted that coverage was only 74 percent.
In the US, Tether Limited is being investigated on suspicion of embezzling $ 850 million in investment funds. In addition, it is suspected that Tether was used to massively manipulate the bitcoin exchange rate, which literally exploded in 2017 and then collapsed.
Despite everything, Tether is becoming increasingly popular. Many exchanges, especially in Asia, use the currency as a substitute for real dollars to buy or sell Bitcoin and other currencies.
Given that many of these exchanges do not have a direct link to traditional bank accounts to which customers, for example, could transfer Bitcoin sales revenue, some buyers might be misled by Tether, according to Thaddeus Dry, a digital currency expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.