Tether, the issuer of the most popular stablecoin in the crypto industry, has once again minted another one billion USDT tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
This move has sparked interest from some market observers who believe it’s a sign of anticipated demand for crypto exposure.
Tether Mints One Billion USDT
Late last night, Tether announced the minting of one billion USDT tokens on the Ethereum network. According to Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino, the minting represented an “inventory replenish.” He added that it was “an authorized but not issued transaction, meaning that this amount will be used as inventory for the next period [of] issuance requests and chain swaps.”
USDT, also known as Tether, is a stablecoin that is pegged to the value of the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio. This means that for every USDT token in circulation, there is an equivalent amount of US dollars held in reserve to back it up.
Stablecoins like USDT are designed to provide price stability and reduce volatility in the cryptocurrency market, allowing traders to move funds between exchanges without having to rely on traditional banking systems.
USDT is issued by Tether Limited, a company that claims to hold the equivalent amount of US dollars in reserve for every USDT token in circulation.
USDT is one of the most widely used cryptocurrencies in the world and is traded on many exchanges alongside other popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Tether’s dominance in the stablecoin market is growing, and it is the dominant stablecoin issuer on the Ethereum blockchain.
USDT Continous Growth
The total amount of USDT on Ethereum now amounts to over 35 billion tokens. Its closest competitor, the Circle-issued USDC, accounts for less than 30 billion tokens.
Meanwhile, Binance USD, which is not currently minting new tokens, makes up less than seven billion tokens.
The growth of Tether’s USDT on the Ethereum blockchain is remarkable. In the last 12 months alone, the amount of USDT on Ethereum has increased by over 800%.
This growth can be attributed to the popularity of Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, which require stablecoins for liquidity provision and trading.
Tether’s USDT is not only popular on the Ethereum blockchain but across all blockchain networks. Currently, the total supply of USDT across all networks is approximately 60 billion tokens.
The issuance of new USDT tokens has been a controversial topic in the crypto community. Some market observers argue that Tether’s minting of new tokens is a way to manipulate the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
However, Tether has repeatedly denied such allegations and stated that its USDT tokens are fully backed by reserves.
Regardless, Tether’s dominance in the stablecoin market continues to grow as it mints more USDT tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
With the growing popularity of DeFi applications, the demand for stablecoins is expected to increase, and Tether is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend. As always, market observers will be watching closely to see how this development impacts the broader crypto market.
