Tether’s USDT stablecoin nears 100 billion in circulating supply
USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin, has reached close to 100 billion in circulating supply, currently sitting at around 99.5 billion. Its market capitalization, which reached over $100 billion at one point, is calculated by multiplying the supply by the price.
Tether claims that all USDT tokens are pegged at a 1:1 ratio with the U.S. dollar. Including minted and authorized tokens, the total USDT supply amounted to 104 billion as of Monday, according to The Block’s data.
The growth in Tether’s supply has been concurrent with the rise of bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market this year, driven by events such as the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. On January 1, Tether had a market capitalization of $91.69 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that the company has issued 99.5 billion tokens, all of which are 100% covered by liquid assets, with the majority in U.S. Treasury bills. Additionally, Tether holds approximately $5.4 billion of excess reserves on top of the liquid assets (undistributed profits) to “further consolidate Tether’s position as a safe and trusted player in the crypto industry and broader financial industry,” Tether CEO added.
With this growth, Tether has widened the gap between itself and Circle’s USDC stablecoin, which has a circulating supply of 28.9 billion. Tether reported a record net profit of $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, largely driven by the appreciation of the company’s U.S. Treasuries, bitcoin, and gold holdings, as per its attestation report.
BDO’s attestation confirmed that Tether’s $4.8 billion in outstanding unsecured loans at the year’s end were fully covered by these excess reserves. Tether expressed pride in having eliminated the risk of secured loans from its token reserves, a move in response to community concerns about this portfolio aspect.
The company’s primary business, running USDT stablecoin, was a key driver of its annual net profit of $6.2 billion. Additionally, Tether acquired 8,888 bitcoins in Q4, bringing its total holdings to approximately 66,465 BTC, valued around $2.8 billion.
As of December 31, Tether’s consolidated reserves were at least $97 billion, including large holdings in U.S. Treasuries ($80.3 billion) and gold ($3.5 billion). The firm’s consolidated liabilities related to issued digital tokens stood at $91.6 billion, with 90% backed by cash or cash equivalents.
