The claim is already being refuted:

https://www.newsbtc.com/2019/11/04/bitcoin-all-time-high-organic-not-single-whale-manipulation-says-vaneck-analyst/


In late 2017, the mainstream media was going nuts for bitcoin, and the google searches for bitcoin also went crazy - indicating that a lot of ordinary people were interested. Coinbase had a huge surge of people opening accounts, as did the other exchanges - and all that interest is likely to be what pushed bitcoin from around $10,000 to $20,000

Fake volume - 2013, fake this, fake that - 2017. It doesn't matter. These are merely catalysts that ensure that the general public are talkingg about crypto.

If your mother is talking to you about crypto, then you should have sold yesterday because that's probably when it is overbought.

There is a rather loud correlation between Bitfinex having problems and a bull run being ignited presumably to earn their way out of trouble. Once everyone else is up and running it becomes irrelevant.

I'd be fascinated to find out all those people turned away from exchanges and squealing all over Youtube were actors. It must've cost more than the profits 'he' made.

And no way is Tether pure thin air. That arrangement could last at best for a few days or weeks before imploding, not years. It might well have dodgy elements but its behaviour points to it being what it claims to be.

Er... Not so sure about that, it feels like a shaky claim that doesn't have a lot of evidence. If they went to court right now, I would expect the case to be dismissed.

During that time there was a huge number of new investors for bitcoin and the bull run just feels like snowball effect combined with a shit ton of media attention.

Not sure what to think about Tether to be honest - they seen to have an odour if scams around them and it seems like the only news about it is controversial. I don't think it could be made out of thin air though.

Can we move on? It was 2 years ago and I don't know if it has some relevant this 2019.

Whether the price spike was done by Bitfinex or not, we have seen the effects already and we are looking forward for the next block halving as the catalyst for another bull run similar to 2017, no need to dwell in the past.

It seems to me that there is a grand conspiracy to discredit Tether including Bitfinex purely because of competition! - maybe because there are other stablecoin competitors out there that wants to take over Tether's status right now and yet, they have always been disappointed!

And why would anyone link Tether as the only cause of 2017 bullrun when everybody knows that FOMO became widespread to the crypto-community and mass media further fueled it and everybody at that time "want to have a piece of the pie" with this "bullish crypto scene".

Now I think that study seems flawed and purely hypothetical and still needs to be peer reviewed by independent third party entities to verify if it is correct!

I also think Cointelegraph's way of reporting should be more comprehensive and subjective and should present more pertinent proofs to substantiate it. Imho.

Tether already sabotaged themselves:

Crypto Market Roiled by New Allegations Against Tether, Bitfinex
Bitfinex Allegedly Covers $850 million Loss with Tether Funds
Bitfinex Used Tether Reserves to Mask Missing $850 Million

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So there's a lot of allegations against them, "running on fractional reserve " or "no audits" afterall.

Anyways, I don't believed as well that they have something to do with bull run and it's subsequent collapse, it's pretty obvious that time that we are already in a bubble.

I must admit that those previous allegations on Tether and Bitfinex have more substance than this 2017 bull run study which seems to support the notion that Tether and Bitfinex have been all along doing these unlawful things brazenly! And all of these are being set up to condition the minds of the public and influence their perception on these two entities. But of course, all of these are just allegations pending finality from court decision.

Now, this is the most puzzling thing to me, assuming Bitfinex and Tether did really orchestrate the pump on 2017 bull run, then we can assume that they were suppose to gain millions if not billions of dollars after that supposedly market manipulation right?

So lets also assume, they did totally get billions of dollars through that "manipulation", then I am wondering why Bitfinex, together with Tether were indicted on the supposedly $850 million dollar Bitfinex cover up allegation which supposedly happened on mid 2018?

I mean this allegations doesn't connect at all on why would Bitfinex would use Tether reserve funds to cover for its losses if they really did got substantial amount during the 2017 bull run as allegedly orchestrated by them?

Forget about this research report, What do you think personally? If there is anything without manipulation? I don't think so, I believe that the Bitcoin market is totally based on the holder's manipulation and in this way, the price of Bitcoin goes up and downs, That's why I always support a proper regulation form, If this system has an accurate regulation process then this platform would be more stable and less volatile, but I don't believe this type of research because this doesn't mean anything when you haven't any control over your system, so such news couldn't bring any positive thing towards this platform.