>By refusing to take deposits for new Tether, and by shutting down redemptions if necessary while the banking relationship is sorted out.

I agree and expect that is the lesson the $18M fine taught them.

The key point is, they had a legitimate reason for under-collateralizing during the biggest bull run in crypto history at that point. 2014-2017 was the perfect period to begin fraudulent activity if they were really interested in it.

I guess the question is, what is the best time to commit fraud in the crypto space, earlier or later (during-post increased regulatory scrutiny)?