Tether’s USDT Stablecoin Hits $81.5 Billion Market Capitalization, Close to All-Time High
Tether, the controversial stablecoin, has hit a market capitalization of $81.5 billion on Saturday, reaching its highest point since the Terra collapse in May 2022. The cryptocurrency is now just $2 billion away from its all-time high of $83.4 billion, set in May last year.
Tether has minted $15 billion in new USDT since the start of 2023, which seems to have played a significant role in the nearly 15% rise in the stablecoin’s market share. This increase was partially due to its closest competitors, Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) and Paxos-issued Binance USD (BUSD), experiencing a disproportionate amount of their on-chain value redeemed for dollars following separate conflicts.
According to data from Coingecko, Tether’s market share stands at 63%, which is its highest point in two years. It’s worth noting that over a billion USDT was minted on Thursday, but it has not yet entered circulation, according to a tweet from Tether’s CTO, Paolo Ardoino.
PSA: 1B USDt inventory replenish on Ethereum Network. Note this is a authorized but not issued transaction, meaning that this amount will be used as inventory for next period issuance requests and chain swaps.
— Paolo Ardoino 🍐 (@paoloardoino) April 20, 2023
While the new inventory was earmarked for Ethereum, most USDT lives on Tron, with some 45 billion tokens, according to Tether Limited’s transparency page. The native USDT on the remaining blockchain networks where it is issued, including Algorand, Avalanche, Bitcoin Cash’s Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP), EOS, Kusama, Liquid Network, Omni, Polygon, Tezos, Solana, and Statemine, make up a tiny fraction of the total supply.
Tether has been the subject of controversy and criticism in recent years, with some questioning its claims of being fully backed by US dollars. Despite this, the stablecoin has maintained its popularity among traders and investors due to its convenience and stability. The recent rise in USDT’s market share indicates that it continues to be a popular choice for market participants, especially in times of market volatility.
The cryptocurrency market is notoriously volatile, and the stability offered by stablecoins like USDT is attractive to traders and investors looking to hedge against market fluctuations. As the cryptocurrency market continues to mature, it will be interesting to see how stablecoins like Tether evolve and whether they will face increased scrutiny from regulators.
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