Tether's history with China goes far beyond commercial paper
The world’s largest stablecoin Tether recently confirmed that a significant portion of its reserves were in commercial paper and other securities connected to banks and entities in China. But Tether’s connections to China run far deeper than this commercial paper. Since the very beginnning, China has been an important part of Tether’s history — from the experiences of its executives to the assets which make up the reserves, and to the real world use-cases that Tether has found. Tether founders and China Brock Pierce is a founder of Tether. Before that, he ran a company called Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE) which sold virtual goods for Everquest, World of Warcraft, and other online games. IGE relied on workers across China who would mine digital gold and then sell it to IGE who would then re-sell it into the primarily Western market. This business was run (with various legal disputes) together with Jonathan Yantis, another Tether co-founder. William Quig...