I'm pro-crytpo but Tether is a scam imo.

Tether is a centralized bank that happens to use a blockchain as a backend. When people say "crypto is transparent" that doesn't mean you can't build things that are not transparent that use crypto. Similarly, one can benefit from a fully-open laptop (with open firmware running Linux or whatever) even if it allows people to still develop closed source software that runs on it, and even if some of that software is merely a front for software that runs on it is just a client for some remote server whose behavior cannot be modeled... because on the locked down device (imagine an iPhone) you can never develop something whose behavior is transparent as you can never discount what the platform is letting the developer hide from you.

Tether is basically a bank with none of the regulations, not actually a blockchain. All transactions done in USDT are public, but the backing money isn't. But trust me, it's all there, and it's totally not in speculative Chinese bonds.