Tether’s Unstoppable Stablecoin Reign: Others Just Try to Keep Up!

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Ah, the stablecoin market – a veritable garden of chaos, where a few hearty plants still reign supreme, despite an alarming number of eager saplings trying to take their place. The leader of this patch? Tether, with its trusty USDt, striding through the crypto market like the overconfident goose that refuses to acknowledge that there are other geese on the pond. According to the ever-watchful eyes at Nansen, a Web3 research firm that clearly spends too much time on the internet, Tether’s USDt continues to lord over the US dollar-pegged stablecoin space, even as its competitors keep sending ever more postcards from the battlefield.

As of April 25, Tether still commands a colossal 66% market share among stablecoins, while USDC, the reliable second place contender, struggles to hold onto a measly 28%. Meanwhile, Ethena’s USDe, which ranks a distant third, might as well be holding a “We Tried!” ribbon with its 2% market share. It’s like watching a three-legged race where one participant just gave up and decided to nap under a tree.

But Nansen, being the optimistic souls they are, expect Tether to keep that lead, even if rivals like USDC start growing at a rate faster than a rocket-powered hedgehog. According to their findings, Tether has nearly three times as many users as Uniswap and 50% more transactions than its closest competitors. So, yeah, if Tether were a movie, it’d be the one with the biggest budget, the flashiest cars, and an unhealthy number of explosions.

“Despite the potential dispersion in stables, we’re pretty sure this is a ‘winner-takes-most’ market,” Nansen mused, presumably while sipping a cup of tea and chuckling to themselves. The crypto space, after all, has the market dynamics of a gladiator arena – only with fewer swords and more spreadsheets.

Tether doesn’t just dominate the market; it’s also raking in profits like a pirate with a really well-organized treasure map. In 2024, the company earned nearly $14 billion, which they managed to achieve by accepting US dollars to mint more USDt, and then investing those dollars into high-yield, liquid instruments like US Treasury bills. If you’re wondering how to become a crypto billionaire, this might be a good place to start (though we’d recommend consulting a financial expert, unless you fancy living in your parents’ basement).

“Clearly, users don’t care much for the yield,” Nansen observed with the dry wit of a seasoned market analyst. “They just want the most liquid, stable, and least-likely-to-implode stablecoin out there.” So while everyone else is out there hunting for treasure chests full of yield, Tether is over here flexing its stability muscles like it’s on a protein shake diet.

Competitive landscape

Meanwhile, USDC, which is the stablecoin equivalent of that kid in high school who studied really hard and is now working for the cool crowd, has been growing at a solid pace. Adoption of USDC surged after November, when US President Donald Trump’s election victory – because, why not throw a political twist in here for extra drama – opened the floodgates for a more favorable US regulatory environment for crypto. It was like the moment the gatekeeper decided to stop being a grumpy old man and let everyone into the party.

Circle’s USDC, which is US-regulated and thus super attractive to institutional types who need their regulations spelled out in an official-looking font, has found a new fanbase. But even as USDC puffs up its chest, it’s now facing “intensifying competition” from big financial institutions like Fidelity, PayPal, and banks. And then there’s PayPal’s PYUSD and Ripple USD, which are rapidly gaining traction like a bunch of toddlers on caffeine.

Just when you thought the plot couldn’t thicken, on April 25, payment processor Stripe announced plans to create its very own stablecoin, having acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge. Because apparently, no one can be trusted to keep their hands off the stablecoin cookie jar.

And what of Ethena, the underdog with its yield-bearing USDe stablecoin? Well, it’s “competitive on most fronts moving forward,” mainly because it’s integrated across centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Since launching in 2024, Ethena’s stablecoin has been offering a 19% annualized yield. That’s right – 19%! It’s like the new kid at school who’s offering everyone free snacks, but with the unsettling possibility that the snacks might be more “investment opportunity” than “actual snacks.”

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2025-04-29 00:50