Despite the mounting pressure from central banks and governments alike, the Tether printer is running wild as demand for the stablecoin seems to be growing exponentially. 5 Billion USDT were minted in the last 2 weeks alone. That’s approximately half the previous market cap, or an increase of 50% of the supply. USDT is the largest US Dollar with approximately $15 Billion in circulation.
With this increase in its supply, Tether was able to secure its third spot in front of XRP (Ripple). The reason for the increased demand can most probably be found in the growing DeFi market. For pool-trading liquidity providers, double digit return rates are no longer the exception. Such opportunities don’t go unnoticed for too long. The majority of DeFi development takes place on Ethereum, but other platforms such as Tron and EOS are slowly catching up. Nevertheless, overtaking Ethereum isn’t an easy task. Only yesterday, another $1 Billion worth of USDT were transferred from Tron to the Etehreum blockchain.
Tether has been the most liquid stablecoin for quite a while now, even overtaking Bitcoin in terms of daily trading volume. According to Coingecko, the current daily trading volume of Tether is worth $40 Billion.
USDT is minted on multiple blockchains. The most recent addition being Solana. Here’s how Tether’s 14.715 Billion USDT are currently divided on the different platforms, with the percentage change since the 1st of June:
In spite of regulations
Multiple recent events have put stablecoins under pressure. In April, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) announced its intention to reach a global ban on stablecoins. The reasoning behind this is probably the loss of controlling power that comes with this technology. With stablecoins, money can be transferred worldwide anonymously with no KYC requirements. The higher degree of freedom enjoyed by individuals that comes along is a disadvantage to governmental agencies.
Recently, it was also announced that the EU also seeks to impose stronger regulations on stablecoins, or even forbidding them completely. Again, the higher individual freedom is interpreted as a threat to the banking system. The EU is also working on its own central bank digital currency, which according to critics will eliminate the need for banks, but also make citizens more transparent and dependent on the state’s grace.
How far Tether and the other stablecoins are willing to go despite of the tougher regulations looming on the horizon is anyone’s guess. But for now, stablecoins face no shortage of demand.