Excellent post. I suspect Tethers will not lead to systemic risk and in all likelihood are backed 1:1. I believe the skeptics overplay their hand in underestimating the number of whales that trade on Bitfinex and other tether enabled platforms. I have seen large volumes of new money flow into these exchanges. Given the profitability of exchanges in these volatile markets, it is furthermore likely Bitfinex is earning in the tens of millions monthly.