Tether becomes second largest altcoin behind Ethereum tokens

Submitted 12/06/2020 - 5:28pm

Tether, a blockchain-enabled platform that powers the largest stablecoin by market capitalisation, has eclipsed Ripple’s XRP to become the second largest altcoin behind Ethereum tokens (ETH).

USD Tether (USDt) has made a rapid ascent in 2020, amid challenging market conditions and, at times, extreme levels of market volatility. USDt is also playing an increasingly important role as a valuable source of liquidity in the nascent DeFi space, which has spawned innovative financial products such as flash loans that form part of an alternative financial system.

USD Tether (USDt) has grown to a market capitalisation of USD9.6 billion, dwarfing the size of rival stablecoins by market capitalisation, trading volume and number of users. USDt’s market capitalisation has eclipsed that of XRP, which currently stands at US$8.5 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap, a provider of cryptocurrency market data.
 
“Tether is manifestly growing in popularity as the most liquid, stable and trusted stablecoin,” says Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether. “Tether’s ascent to become the third biggest cryptocurrency underlines the pivotal role USDt plays in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The march of USDt is gathering momentum amid growing recognition that stablecoins will play an important role in the future of finance as a trusted and robust form of digital money.”

As of 12 May, 2020, USDt has a market share of 77.84 per cent among Ethereum-based stablecoins, according to recent research by The Block. USDt’s outstanding Ethereum-based supply has grown by about 113 per cent year-to-date to from USD2.3 billion to USD4.9 billion. The aggregate Ethereum-based stablecoin market capitalisation has increased 95.38 per cent year-to-date to USD6.25 billion, research from The Block found.

“Tether functions as the reserve currency for the crypto market,” says Ardoino. “The recent market instability has demonstrated that there is a huge need for this asset. Investors want a safe haven to reduce the risk in their portfolios.” 

In addition to it’s Ethereum-based version of USDt, there are versions of USDt that work on Algorand, Ethereum, EOS, Liquid Network, Omni and Tron. Tether is driven to support and empower growing ventures and innovation in the blockchain space.

Tags Cryptocurrency