# USDT (Tether)

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/usdt/

6 people recommended USDT (Tether) in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 18 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

These are opinions from Hacker News comments, not financial advice.

**Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Dollar-pegged stablecoin people use to hold and move money where local currencies are unstable. Critics say the issuer can freeze or block funds, and it is not decentralized.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Issuer can freeze or block funds (7 comments in the sample): "USDT/USDC are useful for the exchange to fiat, but have freeze function in their contract, thus posing a risk for big longterm savings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740380)) "It's the same as a bank in that one party holds your money and can decide to stop you from spending it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50302148)) "same problem if the US gov tell tether to whip their address it is game over." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47694022))
- Not decentralized, tied to one company (3 comments in the sample): "the reality that USDT and similar tokens end up tethered to a single dominant exchange, heavily coupled to nation states" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48643090)) "created by a super shady company and is not at all decentralized or censorship-free" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50301118)) "There is nothing permissionless or decentralized about them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644585))
- Shady issuer and dodgy origins (3 comments in the sample): "The whole Axis of Losers trade is propped up by mafia's USDT" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46191930)) "I don't trust a El Salvador baed company and thus not USDT" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46965675)) "It's creation was dodgy to say the least." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50302222))
- Unaudited and opaque (2 comments in the sample): "I would not consider USDT to be an example for transparency or free flow of information." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50302380)) "USDT still hasn't published their audit despite KPMG signing off on it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376573))

## Why people recommend it

- Stable value where local currency is unstable (3 comments in the sample): "people in my country Venezuela, use usdt as a way for paying for things and saving money as the currency it's inestable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46193430)) "The only real use case that makes sense to me is giving people in developing countries access to a stable currency" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48643201)) "USDC and USDT do seem to actually be stable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48643430))
- Used for payments and savings (1 comment in the sample): "I still use USDT/USDC transfers when it’s cheaper." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50306593))

## What people recommend instead

- [USDC (USD Coin)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/usdc/): 15 recommend, 5 mixed, 6 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "USDT (Tether)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/usdt/ (6 recommend, 1 mixed, 18 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.