Mike Smith
2 days ago
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USDT capitalization has surpassed $158 billion, equivalent to 60% of the stablecoin market and nearly 5% of the global cryptocap. The level was updated on July 2 amid robust demand in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, where the token acts as a unit of account for cross-border payments and savings protection.
Since the beginning of the year, issuer Tether Limited has issued over 22 billion digital dollars: seventeen tranches of $1 billion in the Tron network and five in Ethereum. Such rapid issuance supports the depth of the market: daily USDT turnover exceeds $90 billion, providing instant liquidity for institutions and retail.
That said, regulatory clouds are gathering over the company. The U.S. Senate has approved a GENIUS Act bill that requires holding reserves only in cash and Treasury bills, publishing quarterly audits. The presence of gold and bitcoin on Tether's balance sheet could deny it access to the U.S. market if it fails to disclose details of the reserves.
Reports from the company itself show progress: nearly $120 billion is placed in U.S. Treasury bonds, and net income for the first quarter of 2025 exceeded $1 billion. It has built up a $5.6 billion buffer on its balance sheet, reducing its sensitivity to Fed rate fluctuations.
Investors are still waiting for a full-blown Big Four audit. For corporations hedging currency risk with USDT, transparency of asset maturities and ratings is important. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino is already considering launching a “pure” token for the U.S., keeping the main issuance through a license in El Salvador.
For competitor USDC, the law turned out to be a gift: its share rose to 24%, and the high level of disclosure is attracting asset managers. Still, analysts consider USDT's leadership to be sustainable - it is used by more than 400 million addresses, and balances are concentrated on two large blockchains, which facilitates integration into fintech applications.
According to DeFiLlama, the total issuance of stablecoins has exceeded $251 billion, and nearly every second transaction on DeFi includes USDT as the underlying asset. Developers of L2 solutions prioritize token support because it guarantees the necessary liquidity of bridges and pools.
The premium on call options expiring in December 2025 has reached 5% p.a., reflecting expectations of increased demand for stablecoins amid monetary tightening. Market participants see USDT as a convenient bridge between the dollar and risky digital assets.
The balance between control and scale will be a key factor: the stricter the reporting requirements, the stronger the institutional confidence, but the slower the supply expands. Competition from banking and potentially government-owned stablecoins is pushing Tether to accelerate transparency reform without losing the issuance speed that has made it a leader.
