I created a flowchart for how to invest in BTC.
Another way to understand the flowchart is to look at Tether’s market cap. Then do a serious deep dive into Tether’s infamous history of financial legerdemain and suspect associations, lack of legitimate banking, offshore havens, corporate invisibility, zero audits, and regulatory compliance evasion.
Tether started seriously printing at the beginning of 2020, which is when the BTC price started to seriously rise. Tether’s only break from printing was during the 2022 FTX, Terra/Luna, 3AC, Celsius, and others crypto crash and the October 10, 2025 crypto wipeout. Only a few large accounts can redeem tether, there is no true arbitrage, and Tether’s TOS stipulates that redemptions are at Tether’s discretion.
The current underlying impact on Tether is the GENIUS Act regulatory compliance that is slowly working its way through Congress. Tether refuses to comply with U.S. regulation and instead created an alternative stablecoin, USAT, for compliance. Without a loophole in the GENIUS Act, the $184 billion Tether stablecoin USDT intends to remain unregulated offshore.
