Tether (USDT) is a stablecoin that’s targeting a $1 peg. The stablecoin was originally introduced in 2015 by Tether, a company that shares multiple high-ranking officials with major cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
USDT was the first stablecoin to achieve widespread usage in the cryptocurrency market, and currently leads the stablecoin sector in terms of both trading volume and market capitalization. USDT is backed with reserves, and its issuer Tether provides a service where USDT tokens can be redeemed at a 1:1 ratio against the US dollar.
What is Tether (USDT) and how does it work?
Tether (USDT) is the largest stablecoin on the market in terms of market capitalization and trading volume. Stablecoins are blockchain-based tokens that are designed to track the price of another asset—the most popular stablecoins are pegged to national currencies like the US dollar, euro and Japanese yen.
The role of USDT is to track the US dollar, with 1 USDT token ideally being exchangeable for 1 USD. Tether maintains a reserve of assets to back the USDT tokens in circulation.
The USDT price is usually very close to its $1 target since the tokens can be redeemed for USD on a 1:1 basis through its issuer, Tether. The minimum amount of USDT that can be redeemed directly through Tether is 100,000 tokens ($100,000), which means that the average cryptocurrency trader will eventually have to convert their USDT into another cryptocurrency or use an exchange that lists USDT against a fiat currency.
USDT/fiat pairs are currently quite rare to find, but they do exist – Kraken is an example of an exchange where USDT can be converted to USD and vice versa (as of May 2022).
Here's a quick summary of some of USDT's most important features:
- Launched in 2015
- Designed to trade as close to $1 as possible
- The largest stablecoin by market cap and trading volume
- Available on multiple blockchain platforms
- Backed with reserves held by Tether
- USDT tokens can be redeemed against the US dollar
- Used extensively on cryptocurrency exchanges and DeFi protocols
USDT was initially launched through the Omni Layer, a solution which makes it possible to create custom tokens that leverage the security of the Bitcoin blockchain. Omni-based USDT tokens are still in circulation, but USDT tokens have since also been issued on other blockchain networks.
USDT stablecoin use cases
The primary use for the USDT coin is to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on crypto exchanges. Since USDT is based on blockchains, it can also be used for payments - USDT is an asset with a stable value that can be transferred anywhere in the world at relatively low costs.
Another use case for USDT that has emerged in the last few years is decentralized finance (DeFi). While USDT itself is backed by reserves maintained by a centralized entity (Tether), many DeFi protocols allow users to trade and lend USDT tokens directly on the blockchain.
USDT is listed on a large number of cryptocurrency exchanges and is the most traded crypto asset in the world. Crypto traders value the ability to quickly switch between volatile cryptocurrencies and a more stable asset while keeping their funds on the trading platform of their choice. The bulk of USDT trading is done against “traditional” cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
One of the reasons for the Tether crypto’s popularity is that not all exchanges support fiat currency deposits and withdrawals. In such examples, USDT is used as a substitute for fiat currency to facilitate cryptocurrency trading.
USDT is available on many different blockchains
One of the unique aspects of the USDT crypto is that the token is supported on multiple blockchains. USDT was first issued on the Omni Layer, which is a protocol built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain.
Later on, Tether also made USDT available on Ethereum to make open up new possibilities involving smart contracts. The company has since been expanding support to multiple blockchain platforms. TRON is one of the most popular blockchains for transacting with USDT, thanks to its fast transactions and low fees.
Here’s a list of the blockchain platforms where you can find USDT:
USDT circulating supply
The USDT circulating supply grows as new tokens are minted, and declines when USDT tokens are redeemed. Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, there’s no upper limit on how many USDT can be minted - the supply depends on the market’s demand for USDT.
The amount of USDT in circulation has been trending upwards for multiple years now. The Tether (USDT) market cap is closely tied to the amount of USDT tokens in circulation, as the price usually doesn’t see major fluctuations.
Let’s take a look at some of the most significant circulating supply milestones for USDT:
- 1 million - the supply of USDT first exceeded 1 million in January 2016
- 10 million - the USDT supply first reached 10 million in January 2017
- 50 million - the supply of USDT hit 50 million for the first time in March 2017
- 100 million - the first time that USDT hit a supply of 100 million was in May 2017
- 500 million - USDT’s circulating supply hit the 500 million milestone in November 2017
- 1 billion - the first time that USDT reached a circulating supply of 1 billion was in December 2017
- 10 billion - the USDT supply hit the 10 billion milestone for the first time in June 2020
- 50 billion - USDT first reached a supply of 50 billion in April 2021
USDT’s backing has been the subject of controversy
Even though USDT is extremely popular among cryptocurrency traders, it has been subject to several controversies over the years. Critics have questioned Tether’s transparency and the company’s ability to redeem every USDT in circulation for $1.
Tether, the issuer of USDT, was in a legal battle with the New York Attorney General’s office (NYAG) between April 2019 and February 2021, when the two parties reached a settlement and Tether paid a $18.5 million fine. Among other allegations, NYAG said that Tether made false statements about the backing of the USDT stablecoin.
The questions surrounding Tether and USDT have helped create demand for alternative stablecoins like USD Coin, Pax Dollar, Binance USD and Dai to enter the market.
Despite its controversial status, competitors have so far been unable to surpass Tether and USDT remains by far the largest stablecoin in terms of trading volume. In terms of market capitalization, USD Coin (USDC) has emerged as a serious challenger.
Tether has made some efforts towards improved transparency to address criticism. For example, the company now publishes a breakdown of the reserves backing USDT on its website, and also provides assurance opinions on a quarterly basis to show that they hold sufficient reserves to back all USDT tokens. The company also claims to have redeemed 7 billion USDT between May 11 and May 15, 2022.
Crypto investors should be aware that holding stablecoins is not risk-free, even when it comes to reserve-backed stablecoins like USDT. If the issuer of the stablecoin is found to be unable to redeem all tokens in circulation for fiat currency, the price of a reserve-backed stablecoin could drop or even crash.
USDT has seen some deviations from its $1 peg since its launch, but the Tether coin price has successfully recovered back to $1 on every occasion so far. Regardless, users should still exercise caution when buying any stablecoin.
On CoinCodex, you can stay up to date with the latest information regarding the Tether price, market cap and news.