1-2. ETFs are not uses for crypto. They’re a vehicle to hold crypto, not a usecase. Blackrock doesn’t even use the blockchain and doesn’t have custody of it’s own keys. It’s a bit of an own goal as far as crypto adoption goes.
3. Tether totally has $110+B in holdings, though they’ve never produced a financial audit and they try to pass off attestations and non-financial audits as such to believers. Both times they’ve been forced to open their books, they turned out to be unbacked. Also, Circle and Tether are centralized entities who have full control of their currency and can and will censor transactions and block accounts, just like a regular bank.
4. Sure, cool, but is it actually used for anything anywhere or is that more of a “vague distraction”
I am downvoting you for your purely BS hyperbole. FYI, here are a few examples of what's not fraud in crypto industry.
1. Bitcoin. There are 11 BTC ETFs approved by SEC.
2. Ethereum. Many ETH ETFs are on the way to be approved
3. Stablecoins. Circle foundation issues billions of USDC and is closely affiliated with wall street and USG
4. ZK technology (pure research in many premier universities)