Banks have like 10% or even less the dollars that they are supposed to be holding, but still are doing all fine.
Personally I don't think these tether conspiracy theories were ever true. Maybe they aren't 1:1 backed, but they have always been financially well off enough to keep the company running. And after the interest rates went up, they are probably making a killing. Typical bank has minimal reserves compared to them, and everyone is fine with that.
Reserve requirements are completely different from capital requirements. US banks are required to hold about $108 in assets for every $100 they hold in deposits, and their actual holdings are typically in the range of around $110 to $115 in assets per $100 of deposits. Central bank reserves are one type of asset that commercial banks can hold; a 0% reserve requirement just means that commercial banks can hold all of that ~$108 in other assets if they choose to.
In contrast, Tether has historically admitted to having as little as $100.20 in assets per $100 in liabilities [0], with a significant fraction of it in crypto and other assets that effectively wouldn't even count toward banks' capital requirements. It has probably dropped below $100 in assets per $100 in liabilities - i.e., been insolvent - at some point, and even taking its latest audit [1] at face value, it has far less capital than would be needed for a bank with the same asset profile in the US or other developed countries.
I see all these comments about the trash and hate on Twitter, and I just wish that I could show them how I use it, and how wonderful a source of intellectual stimulation it can be.
My feed is highly curated.
1) I mute all political words. Nothing good comes from these discussions. I also mute things that just don't contribute to my peace of mind (a recent addition being "basecamp")
2) I block users who put out garbage content or try to stir things up
3) I use lists that I view on TweetDeck, so I can have lists based on my different interests (i.e. investing, entrepreneurs, interesting people, philosophy, etc)
Using this it becomes a dream feed. I get stimulating content, great discussions, and interesting ideas. On top of that I've actually made some solid friends from the network over the years, some in-person ones as well.
Have you ever considered that all this labor isn't worth it to a casual user? It's quite obvious, the surface Twitter experience is hostile and trashy. You've sequestered yourself into a bubble you think is fine, ok, but what incentive is there for anyone else to do the same?
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