It’s different because Tether claims to hold 1 USD for each Tether. A claim that should be verifiable.

The value of sh*tcoins is just a function of their future resale value.

Of course it does. Fraud is a crime for a reason.

It’s almost certain now that Tether doesn’t have fiat currency to back up its claimed value. But it’s a convenient fiction for everyone to keep believing as long as you’re not the one holding the Tethers when everyone suddenly decides to stop believing.

Given that 70% of all crypto transactions involve Tethers, the market cap of everything in crypto is more realistically denominated in Tethers than dollars.

Yes because if they're saying they have tons of USD-equivalent and buying other coins with it then they've been artificially inflating the other coins with bogus funds