Ethereum Overtakes Tron as the Leading Network for USDT Supply

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As a seasoned crypto investor with years of experience navigating the volatile and ever-evolving landscape of digital assets, I find myself increasingly impressed by Tether’s strategic expansion on Ethereum. The sheer volume of USDT issuance on Ethereum is almost overwhelming, outpacing even the active loans on DeFi protocols like Aave.

It’s become clear that Ethereum is now the primary platform for Tether’s USDT issuance, outpacing Tron in what marks a significant change in the struggle for supremacy among stablecoins.

Over the past month, Tether issued $20 billion in USDT on the network, possibly marking it as the go-to blockchain for activity involving the fiat-pegged cryptocurrency.

Strategic Expansion

Data from Token Terminal, a leading on-chain data provider, reveals that Tether’s $20 billion issuance on the most valuable blockchain (in terms of total value locked) is almost double the amount of active loans on platforms such as Aave.

According to data from an additional blockchain analysis platform, Lookonchain, the increase in USDT minting began on November 6th. Since then, Tether has been minting between $1 billion and $2 billion of stablecoins every few days across Ethereum and Tron, with a majority being issued on Ethereum.

The trend is more than just numbers. Some analysts imply it is a nod to the reputation of the platform co-founded by Vitalik Buterin as a “trusted” and socially reputable network—a critical factor for institutional adoption.

Moreover, experts such as DCinvestor on platform X have proposed that the increase is merely the start. They anticipate Ethereum’s stablecoin supply could surge dramatically, potentially peaking at $1 trillion by December 2025. This projected growth would significantly bolster the network’s overall economic strength, possibly securing its role as the foundation of decentralized finance (DeFi).

USDT’s Dominance

Based on DefiLlama’s findings, Tether has consistently increased its coin issuance, accounting for over 69% of the $201 billion stablecoin market. In Q4 of 2024, it was reported that approximately 109 million wallets owned this asset, which is more than twice the number holding Bitcoin and only about 20 million fewer than those using Ethereum.

As a crypto investor, I’ve been closely monitoring the impressive online traffic of this digital asset issuer. In just the first nine months of the year, they recorded over 4.5 billion web visits, with approximately 45% coming from emerging markets. This high level of engagement underscores the global interest in their offerings.

On more than 80 blockchain platforms, USDT currently boasts a market value of around $140 billion, an increase of 12.55% over the past month. Meanwhile, its main rival, USD Coin (USDC), worth approximately $41.5 billion, has formed a strategic alliance with Binance to potentially contest Tether’s leading position.

Although specifics about the partnership are still unclear, the goal is to boost the worldwide use of USD Coin (USDC). Binance plans to integrate this stablecoin across all their offerings, thereby making it available to their massive user community of approximately 240 million people.

Efforts to challenge USDT’s dominance aren’t confined to just USDC. Recently, a group of cryptocurrency companies like Robinhood, Kraken, Galaxy Digital, and Paxos have joined forces to back the creation of Global Dollar (USDG). Supporters of this asset argue that it will facilitate the quicker global acceptance of such financial instruments.

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2024-12-12 21:30