As I imagine it it, Wormhole's new Native Token Transfers is just like them minting equal USDT on every chain, but all of it stays authorized not issued until someone bridges. Similar to "lock and mint" but natively issued (controlled) by the app's smart contract. Does this sound right?

super interesting - I’d not heard of this, but, that seems like a relatively safe conclusion based on what I can see. 

your defi chops are sick, dude - would love to chat & also learn what you’re hacking on! :)