The market cap of Tether’s USDt stablecoin has surpassed the $10 billion mark, cementing the stablecoin’s position as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
In a press release shared with CryptoGlobe, Tether noted that the importance of the USDt token has been growing as the stablecoin “performs an increasingly vital function within the digital asset ecosystem.” The firm added USDt is the “crypto’s reserve currency,” and that it is also being used “in remittances and innovative projects in the digital asset space, including decentralised finance (DeFi).”
Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CTO, was quoted as saying the success Tether now has will be “in the future be looked upon as a forbearer of crypto’s emergence as a major asset class.” He added:
The market has spoken. People trust tether and like using crypto’s preeminent stablecoin. We’re proud that tether has breached the US$10 billion mark with USDt manifestly so well supported within the digital asset ecosystem.
Tether’s market cap has ballooned so far this year, going from over $4 billion in January to now over $10 billion. Its rise has seen it surpass XRP to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
The USDt token’s market cap has, in fact, grown from about $2 billion in February 2019. It is now present in various blockchains, including Omni, Algogrand, Ethereum, EOS, TRON, and the Liquid Network. According to Tether’s website most USDt is on the Ethereum network, as $6 billion are circulating on it.
Next there are $2 billion worth of USDt on the TRON blockchain, and $1.3 billion on the Omni protocol. The stablecoin’s rise on Ethereum is likely related to the growth of DeFi and the yield-farming trend.
Most of the USDt tokens in circulation are also used on centralized trading platforms for arbitrage, according to a report by blockchain analytics firm Flipside Crypto. As CryptoGlobe reported, Tether has so far blacklisted 39 Ethereum addresses holding USDt.
Featured image via Pixabay.
