The market capitalization of Tether’s USDT stablecoin surpassed $40 billion, data from industry aggregator Coinmarketcap shows, further helping it cement its position as the world’s largest stablecoin.
The ‘Tetherization’ continues at a pace with many crypto exchanges denominating pairs in USDt rather than bitcoin, the token issuer said.
“USDt is increasingly being used in remittances and innovative projects in the digital token ecosystem, including those in the nascent space of decentralised finance (DeFi),” they added in a statement.
Tether has just surpassed a $40B market cap! ?
In March 2020, Tether’s market cap was $4 billion! Since then, we’ve seen 900% growth in only one year! ???? Stay up to date on our official Telegram channel ⬇️https://t.co/137b5oOauU pic.twitter.com/DTZ0aO8Cm0 — Tether (@Tether_to) March 24, 2021
Tether, which is closely affiliated with crypto exchange, Bitfinex, works across a diversity of different blockchains, including Algorand, Bitcoin Cash’s SLP, Ethereum, EOS, Liquid Network, Omni and Tron.
Tether, currently ranked the 4th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, has been rising rapidly in the last two months amid growing institutional and corporate demand. Year-to-date, the token added $20 billion, which is greater than the combined market capitalization of all rival stablecoins.
For comparison, the market cap of this dollar-pegged coin stood at $20 billion as of January 1. Then, it soared to $26 billion a month later and then hit $35 billion in March. Tether has seen more than half of its aggregate market cap achieved in the last three months.
Additionally, the recent rally was supported by the news that Bitfinex allegedly paid back another $550 million to Tether, now covering more than 100 percent of its $750 million loan facility they took out two years ago.
Bitfinex, who shares a parent company with Tether, agreed in February to pay $18.5 million to settle New York’s Attorney General’s allegations that they lied about their reserves.
Demand for USDt in the e-commerce and Payments space has been surging as the token allows relevant users to avoid Volatility . Moreover, online retailers and payment gateways benefitted from faster cheaper transactions compared to credit cards and traditional payment systems.
This fantastic milestone was driven by growing interest in decentralised finance (DeFi) and OTC desks that use the token to settle block trades over-the-counter.
Commenting on the news, Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether, said: “Crossing US$40 billion represents an important milestone for Tether. Our growth reflects the pivotal role Tether plays in the overall digital token ecosystem. People like using Tether. Whether you are a trader, developer or part of the growing numbers using Tether for payments and remittances, there are myriad of benefits to using the most liquid, stable and trusted stablecoin.”
