Tether (USDT) is a popular stablecoin that crypto enthusiasts have used for years to leverage their cryptocurrency trades.
USDT is pegged to the US dollar, and in theory it should be unaffected by the market volatility that can so dramatically impact the valuation of other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.
Tether Is a Stablecoin
Tether aims to provide a “safe” digital asset that maintains a stable valuation. That’s what makes USDC a stablecoin, whose value is pegged to the price of the US dollar. The goal is that Tether should always maintain the same value as its peg.
“The idea is that 1 Tether can always be traded for $1, regardless of market conditions,” says Steve Bumbera, chief operating officer of Many Worlds Token.
Tether’s stablecoin competitors include USD Coin (USDC), Dai (DAI) and Pax Dollar (USDP), to name a few.
Crypto traders use Tether to provide steady, reliable liquidity to get in and out of other cryptocurrency trades without facing unpredictable losses (or gains) from volatile price changes.
Tether had a 24-hour trading volume of $64 billion at the time of this writing. That makes Tether the most liquid cryptocurrency—beating even crypto market stalwarts Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). It’s also among the top three largest cryptos by market capitalization.
If you want to buy a stablecoin tied to Canadian currency instead of US dollars, then QCAD is one to consider.
How Does Tether Work?
When a user deposits fiat currency into Tether’s reserve, selling fiat to buy USDT, Tether then issues the corresponding digital amount in tokens. The USDT can then be sent, stored or exchanged.
If a user deposits $100 in the Tether reserve, then in keeping with a 1-to-1 dollar parity, they will receive 100 Tether tokens. Tether coins are destroyed and removed from circulation when users redeem the tokens for fiat currency.
Tether moves across blockchains like many other digital currencies. There are Tether tokens available on various blockchains, such as the original one with Omni on the Bitcoin platform as well as Liquid, in addition to Ethereum (ETH) and TRON (TRX), among others.
A Brief History of Tether
The roots of Tether date back a decade, to when JR Willet was looking to build new cryptocurrencies on the Bitcoin protocol. Willet implemented this idea with Mastercoin, and one of its original members would later become the co-founder of Tether in 2014.
Using Tether for liquidity began when it was added to the BitFinex exchange in January 2015.
Recent market turbulence, which saw the price of TerraUSD, another stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, drop to less than $0.23, caused Tether to break its $1 value, crypto experts say.
The decline was largely driven by investors’ fears that if one stablecoin can break its peg, others can, too.
“As an asset-backed stablecoin, with holdings primarily in US Treasurys, [Tether] stands a far better chance of weathering the current tsunami rocking the digital asset world,” says Marc LoPresti, managing director of The Strategic Funds. He says the only stablecoin with comparable collateral quality is USD Coin.
“It is difficult for Tether to follow the path of Terra completely because if they decide to take out even 30% to 50% of their collateral, that will shake up not only the crypto market but also the broader financial markets,” says Kavita Gupta , founder and general partner of Delta Blockchain Fund.
How Is Tether Backed?
Despite stablecoins being a popular choice among crypto traders, Tether has some additional controversies regarding liquidity issues and whether its reserves are adequate to cover the number of USDT tokens in circulation.
According to Tether’s website in 2019, the site claimed the stablecoin was backed by reserves in traditional currency and cash equivalents (and sometimes other assets from affiliated entities).
That’s a bit more detail than what is cited today. Today, Tether’s site states that “All Tether tokens are pegged at 1-to-1 with a matching fiat currency and are backed 100% by Tether’s reserves.”
Adam Carlton, CEO of crypto wallet Pink Panda, says Tether’s history of being transparent about how the coin is backed hasn’t always been clear or consistent.
“It has a very questionable legal past, and to this day, its actual reserves are still quite opaque and believed to be substantially composed of unknown sources of commercial paper,” Carlton says.
Other crypto experts say it’s somewhat accepted that Tether isn’t “fully” collateralized in the crypto marketplace. And that it was an issue of controversy more than a year ago.
“Markets have worked through that concept of how comfortable they are – it’s very clear Tether is not backed by dollars,” says James Putra, vice president of product strategy at TradeStation Crypto.
Tether vs TerraUSD
Tether and TerraUSD (UST) are both stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, but the two cryptos maintain their value using completely different methods.
Tether is a collateralized stablecoin, backed by the company’s assets and reserves. When those reserves are equal to or less than the number of tokens in circulation, the Tether is said to be “fully reserved.” You can see Tether’s current balances on its transparency page.
Terra is an algorithmic stablecoin. Instead of cash reserves in a bank account, Terra relies on programmatic language and the parameters its sets for another token on the Terra protocol to support the 1-to-1 US dollar parity.
Based on its creation, the TerraUSD stablecoin relies on supply and demand market forces and LUNA’s ability to absorb price volatility to maintain its price peg.
Relying on an algorithm rather than cash reserves is what caused TerraUSD to lose its price peg amid recent market volatility. “Owning 1 UST, you would expect to be able to cash out for $1 at any point, but it lost its peg,” Bumbera says.
This has brought to light concerns about the future of such algorithmic stablecoins.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange in trade volume, suspended spot trading for LUNA and UST temporarily against its own stablecoin BUSD on May 13 because of its volatility, with LUNA’s value going down to near zero at $0.0001208, in May 2022.
“The current version of the programmatic coins is definitely over,” Gupta said. “But there will always be a space for innovation in a much better stablecoin.”
Tether’s price slipped below its peg to $0.9485 in market moves related to the collapse of TerraUSD on May 12 but has since rebounded close to its 1-to-1 dollar parity.
Tether vs Bitcoin
The key difference between Tether and Bitcoin is that “Tether is a stablecoin … tied to a real-life commodity, the USD, while Bitcoin is not tied to any real-world commodity,” says Daniel Rodriguez, chief operating officer at Hill Wealth Strategies , a wealth management firm in Richmond, Virginia.
Tether is a centralized crypto, whereas Bitcoin is decentralized by not being linked to any real-world currencies. For that reason, in theory, Tether’s value should remain more stable than Bitcoin’s.
Cryptocurrencies that are not pegged to a real-world asset or currency are subject to market volatility. Most traditional cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Litecoin (LTC) will see extreme fluctuations and volatility with the market, inflation and interest rates.
“Tether seems to be a little more stable because it stays close to the value of one USD, give or take a few cents,” Rodriguez says.
Another distinction is that “Tether isn’t designed to necessarily make money but rather be a stable store of value,” he adds.
Is Tether a Good Investment?
Stablecoins like Tether don’t make much sense as an investment because they aren’t meant to increase in value. They only operate as a store of value, since one USDT should always equal one dollar.
Besides being a useful store of value, the benefit of Tether is as a tool for conducting business in a far simpler manner than using Bitcoin.
“One Bitcoin today will not be the same price of Bitcoin tomorrow, making it incredibly difficult to create pricing schemas for companies based solely on BTC,” says Bumbera.
One good reason to own a stablecoin such as USDT, Bumbera says, is if you want to keep your money in crypto but want to avoid volatility. But even staked to the US dollar, Terra is far from a safe investment.
“The risk would be Tether losing its value or the staking platform chosen is not legitimate,” Bumbera says.
While the company purports that it “never once failed to honor a redemption request from any of its verified customers” to date, nothing in investing or cryptocurrencies is guaranteed.
Cryptocurrency users also need to be aware of the changing regulatory landscape around digital assets.
“The future of Tether and other stablecoins depends on transparency, (and the) sufficiency of collateral and liquidity,” LoPresti says. “These features will be the focus of regulators, who will undoubtedly focus their efforts on this sector of the digital asset economy due to the collapse of TerraUSD.”
How to buy Tether in Canada
To buy Tether (or another cryptocurrency) in Canada, here are the steps you need to take.
1. Choose a Broker or Crypto Exchange
First, pick a broker or a crypto exchange. While either lets you buy crypto, there are a few key differences between them. Canadian exchanges where tether is available include:
2. Create and Verify Your Account
Once you decide on a cryptocurrency broker or exchange, open an account. Depending on the platform and the amount you plan to buy, you may have to verify your identity, using your driver’s license or passport. This is an essential step to prevent fraud and meet federal regulatory requirements.
3. Deposit Cash to Invest
To buy crypto, you’ll need to fund your account. Deposit money into your crypto account by linking your bank account, authorizing a wire transfer, making a payment with a debit or credit card or making an Interac e-Transfer. Depending on the exchange or broker and your funding method, it may be a few days before the account is funded. Also, several Canadian banks don’t allow crypto purchases with their products, so check with your bank.
4. Place Your Cryptocurrency Order
When you decide on which cryptocurrency to purchase, you can enter its ticker symbol—Tether, for instance is USDT—and how many coins you’d like to purchase. With most exchanges and brokers, you can purchase fractional shares of cryptocurrency, allowing you to buy a sliver of high-priced tokens like Bitcoin or Ethereum that otherwise take thousands to own. It’s worth noting that, depending on the exchange you choose, and the amount of Tether you choose to buy, you might be charged currency conversion fees when placing your order.
5. Select a storage method
Cryptocurrency exchanges are not backed by protections like the Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. (CDIC), and they’re at risk of theft or hacking. You could even lose your investment if you forget or lose the codes to access your account, as millions of dollars of Bitcoin already have been. That’s why it’s so important to have a secure storage place for your cryptocurrencies.
As noted above, if you’re buying cryptocurrency via a broker, you may have little to no choice in how your cryptocurrency is stored. If you purchase cryptocurrency through an exchange, you have more options:
On the exchange. When you buy crypto, it’s usually stored in a “crypto wallet” attached to the exchange. If you want to move it, you might transfer it off of the exchange to a separate hot or cold wallet. Depending on the exchange and the size of your transfer, you may have to pay a small fee.
Hot wallets. These are crypto wallets that are stored online and run on internet-connected devices, like tablets, computers or phones. They come with a higher risk of theft since they’re connected to the internet.
Cold wallets. These are crypto wallets are not connected to the internet, making them your most secure option for holding cryptocurrency. They take the form of external devices, like a USB drive or a hard drive. However, if you lose the keycode associated with them or the device breaks or fails, you may never be able to recover your crypto. (While the same could happen with certain hot wallets, some are run by custodians who can help you get back into your account if you get locked out.)
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