Quote from: Synchronice on Today at 09:06:06 AM

Quote from: rdluffy on April 24, 2025, 11:11:40 PM

A competitor for Strategy after all Grin

Interesting to see Tether, which was always quoted as the next to fall, being a giant and extremely profitable company

Tether was always quoted as the next to fall because Tether is a privately owned company, their audits are questionable and there is a big chance that USDT isn't as backed as they claim. To say on the other hand, 1 USDT is not 1 USD and if there is a sudden spike in demand, tether might be the next to fall but it doesn't mean that thether isn't profitable or can't be profitable and to be honest, this decision of theirs is very wise and beneficial for strengthening the company.

I don't claim to be an expert, yet Tether's supposed insolvency has been quite exaggerated, and they have made it through a variety of attacks, while still remaining amongst the most profitable companies in the world. Even their level of supposed "non-backing" has been questionable at best. Many of us probably recall their getting robbed $800 million or more by one two of their custodians in Panama, while at the same time they were being attacked by NY prosecutors - resulting in some settlement agreements. They also switched over to being backed by assets that were other than dollars (such as corporate papers, and they were criticized for that, and in the last several years they have been buying a lot of bitcoin for their corporate treasuries but also various kinds of US T-bills (mostly short term, I believe).

Quote from: Synchronice on Today at 09:06:06 AM

Quote from: Free Market Capitalist on Today at 03:36:48 AM

Quote from: d5000 on Today at 01:58:57 AM

Quote from: Free Market Capitalist on April 29, 2025, 07:03:44 PM

Comparing leverage on ETF to be able to borrow billions of dollars at 0% with no margin call is like comparing an elephant to a mosquito.

What is exactly the advantage for the investor? These billions are only invested in BTC.

The fact that there is no margin call, no risk of liquidation (or if you prefer a risk so low that is extremely unlikely, especially compared to a leveraged position in an ETF, that can be margin called).

Didn't MicroStrategy face a liquidation risk in 2022 when Bitcoin sharply fall? It was very close to liquidation if I remember correctly but I might be wrong because I didn't pay too much attention to this fact.

MSTR's being close to being liquidated was also greatly exaggerated. They had some loans that were collateralized and when the BTC price was in the upper $30ks, they mentioned that they would have to add more collateral if the BTC price went below $22k or something like that, and so when the BTC price went below $22k, they added more collateral, which they then proclaimed that the BTC price would have to go below $3,200-ish before they would have to add more collateral to some of their then outstanding loans.... including that they ended up having to renegotiate and to pay off Silvergate loan terms when Slivergate was being attacked by USA regulators, which certainly caused them to question the extent to which to use BTC as collateral in future debt arrangements. Even though MSTR's costs per BTC were in the $30ks while the BTC prices were in the $15ks, I think that the closeness of their being liquidated was overly exaggerated, and more of a fantasy of the bitcoin and MSTR naysayers rather than a reality.

MSTR's current set up does not use collateral, so they would be hard-pressed to get into issues of being liquidated based on BTC price drops, yet surely their recently setting up bitcoin-related yield instruments, in which the bitcoin is paid in dollars, these could be problematic towards causing them to continue to have to pay such yield, even during periods in which BTC prices might be quite low.

I personally have been ongoingly concerned about whatever custodial relations that they have, and surely I have my own doubts about if Coinbase has the coins that they claim to have, and I have my doubts about Coinbase's solvency and/or their abilities to manage money well.. since they have been shitcoiners for a long time and for years they have also been engaged in various attacks on bitcoin, yet MSTR supposedly custodies its coins in a few different places..