- Tether Treasury minted an additional $1 billion USDT, maintaining its market dominance.
- Increasing USDT issuance aligns with rising demand for stablecoins, particularly in economically unstable countries and for international trade.
- Despite regulatory scrutiny, Tether’s financial performance remains strong, with significant profits and growing reserves.
Tether Treasury has just minted an additional $1 billion USDT on the Tron blockchain. Despite already being established as the largest stablecoin issuer in the world, Tether continues to expand its influence on the market.
The newly minted tokens are already available to use, however, they are still under the “authorized but not issued”, meaning that the new billion USDT won’t impact Tether’s market capitalization.
Moreover, the stablecoin has continued to rapidly expand its reserves over the last few years. In 2023, Tether issued over $16 billion USDT, and this year alone the company has already issued $24 billion.
Tether’s growing minting activity coincides with a growing demand for stablecoins in the market today. All over the world, citizens of economically unstable countries are opting to trade and hold stablecoins like USDT instead of their local currency. Also, stablecoins are also having an impact on foreign trade, with countries like Argentina and Turkey increasingly using USDT for international transactions.
Regulatory Concerns
Tether’s growing reserves are also grounds for criticism by some – including the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
Over the last few years, the SEC has shown concerns regarding the transparency of Tether’s reserves backing USDT. The CFTC went as far as fining the crypto company for $41 million for misleading information regarding the amount of cash backing the stablecoin.
However, it is important to underscore just how successful and profitable the company has been. Riding the “stablecoin boom” of recent years, Tether profited $4.52 billion in 2024’s Q1, and by now has seen even more substantial gains.
Given that the utility for USDT continues to grow, Tether’s dollar peg and its influence in the cryptocurrency market is likely to remain unshaken, despite ongoing regulatory scrutiny.
