Hypothesis: Tether used in Bitcoin price manipulations

Professor John Griffin and Amin Shams (Ph.D.) from the University of Texas in Austin have composed a research paper regarding the strange ties of Bitcoin to Tether - a cryptocurrency project claiming its digital units are backed by the United States dollar. According to the data received as a result of the computer price motion simulation, Tether is being used as a financial cushion for Bitcoin.

Note that the allegations towards Tether and Bitfinex have already appeared in the media at the beginning of this year - projects are accused of non-transparent operations. In case with Tether, some observers demand to verify that the project actually has the dollar sums it claims to possess.

Despite this hypothetical financial activity being helpful for Bitcoin, this is still a price manipulation. If the statements by John Griffin and Amin Shams are correct, this means that Tether is artificially pumping Bitcoin.

The investigation about the cryptocurrency market manipulation is currently being conducted by the United States Department of Justice together with the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission. They are likely to assess this paper in the following weeks.