keep your money in a bank or a US dollar money market fund; those are regulated by the US government, hold your money in relatively safe and transparent places, and will let you use it for pretty normal payments.

I think this set of assumptions about US banks is shaky. Perhaps Tether is worse, but I think many people in the US, especially those who are on the lower side of the socioeconomic sale do not exactly have feelings of warmth and confidence when they think of their financial institutions.