Tether’s Market Cap Hits $ 50 Billion As US Dollar Stablecoin Usage Increases | Currency News | Financial and business news
In this photo illustration, a smartphone displays the tether market value on the exchange via the crypto app.
Photo illustration by Guillaume Payen / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
The US dollar stablecoin Tether surpassed a market capitalization of US $ 50 billion on Sunday.
A stabelcoin is a type of cryptocurrency that is backed by a reserve. In the case of Tether or USDt, it is pegged to the dollar, which gives it more stability compared to other cryptocurrencies.
Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether, said this $ 50 billion mark was a milestone since Tether was founded in 2014. This means that there is now more than $ 50 billion in circulation, with a daily trading volume of over $ 140 billion, data from CoinGecko shows.
“Tether’s success is a blueprint for a central bank digital currency and banking system of the future,” he said in a statement. “We’re really impressed with the central role Tether is now playing in the digital token ecosystem across myriad protocols and applications.”
Tether’s exponential growth – doubling from $ 18 billion in early 2021 – suggests growing usage and positive sentiment towards the stablecoin.
Data from Sentifi, an alternative data company, showed Tether had the highest sentiment score on social media, news and other online content on Monday.
On April 22nd, the newly listed Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, gave its seal of approval by listing Tether on Coinbase Pro.
Nevertheless, Tether is not without controversy. The fifth largest cryptocurrency and most popular stablecoin by market cap went through a lawsuit with New York that began in 2019.
“Tether’s claim that its virtual currency was fully backed by US dollars at all times was a lie,” New York attorney general Letitia James said in a February 2021 statement, banning stablecoin from trading in the state.
She continued, “These companies masked the real risk investors faced and were run by unlicensed and unregulated individuals and companies trading in the darkest corners of the financial system.”
Tether agreed to pay a $ 18.5 million fine to resolve the dispute, but did not admit any wrongdoing.
“In contrast to online speculation, after two and a half years there was no finding that Tether had ever issued Tether without support or manipulated crypto prices,” it said in a statement.
Since the beginning of the year, Tether has increased its market cap by $ 29 billion, a gain that is higher than the combined valuation of all competing stablecoins.
According to CoinGecko, Tether hit an all-time high of $ 1.26 in July 02018. When it first debuted, the price of each token was $ 1.
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