USDT Breaks Record with Over $160 Billion Market Cap
Tether’s stablecoin, USDT, has reached a new record. Its market value is now over $160 billion — the highest ever. This news comes from the company’s latest update on its website.
Tether made big profits recently, mostly from U.S. Treasury investments, earning over $1 billion in Q1 2024. That helped USDT keep growing, a trend that started in late 2022.
Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, called this a “mind-blowing milestone” on social media platform X. He said USDT is useful for billions of people in developing countries who use it as a “digital dollar.”
Why Tron Is Beating Ethereum for USDT
More than $81 billion worth of USDT is now on the Tron blockchain, while Ethereum holds about $65 billion. Tron is popular in emerging markets because it’s cheaper and faster to use for payments and savings.
Other blockchains like BNB Chain, Solana, and Polygon have much smaller amounts of USDT — $6.8B, $2.3B, and $1.1B, respectively.
What’s Behind USDT’s Value
Tether says 81.5% of USDT is backed by cash or short-term U.S. government bonds, and 5.1% is backed by bitcoin.
Earlier this year, Ardoino said that over 400 million people use USDT globally, and it’s growing fast — 35 million new wallets every quarter. Tether holds $127 billion in U.S. Treasurys, making it one of the biggest holders in the world, similar to countries like South Korea and Germany.
Stablecoins Becoming the Internet’s Money
Analysts at Bernstein believe that stablecoins like USDT will move beyond just crypto and become the main money system for the internet. They predict the total stablecoin market will grow from $249 billion today to $4 trillion in 10 years.
A U.S. law called the GENIUS Act may help USDC (Tether's competitor by Circle) grow in the regulated market. But analysts still think Tether will remain the leader, with 65% market share, while USDC may rise slightly to 30%.
Tether’s Big Plans Outside of Stablecoins
Tether is also investing its billions into other sectors like:
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
- Telecom and data centers
- Energy infrastructure
- Bitcoin mining
Ardoino said in a podcast that Tether plans to become the biggest bitcoin miner by 2025. He also believes that in 15 years, 1 trillion AI agents will use Bitcoin and USDT for payments. He even said Tether’s brain-computer tech is already more advanced than Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
