Despite recent outflows from cryptocurrency markets, U.S. dollar-linked stablecoin Tether (USDT) reached a market capitalization of more than US$60 billion for the first time this week, according to CoinGecko data.
Fast Facts:
- Tether, the largest stablecoin by market value, has minted coins worth US$52 billion over the past year, with a monthly increase of US$10 billion in 2021. “In May 2020, #Tether tokens’ market cap was $8B, now a year on we’ve seen an increase of 581% and demand for Tether token use higher than ever for both trading and retail adoption,” reads a post on Tether’s official Twitter account .
- Earlier this month, Tether announced that 75.85% of its reserves are backed by cash and cash equivalents, other short-term deposits and commercial paper (short-term debt issued by corporations).
- Tether is currently ranked as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value after Bitcoin and Ethereum.