The question of Tether's influence on crypto markets has long vexed practitioners and academics. In a widely-publicized 2018 paper, academics Griffin and Shams allege that Tether was being issued collusively, effectively increasing the price of Bitcoin beyond its natural level.
To learn how Tether behaves like a currency board, and to assess the veracity of the Griffin & Shams hypothesis in light of new data, we brought Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj on to the show. Ganesh is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, covering international finance and macroeconomics, with a focus on foreign exchange derivatives, market microstructure and cryptocurrencies.
Find the full text of the paper here, and follow Ganesh's work on his personal website.
