Tether (USDT) Market Cap Reaches New Peak, Edges Toward $84 Billion Mark

Tether USDT has seen its market cap value reach new highs in the month of July. According to a report by on-chain analytics company Into The Block, the world’s largest stablecoin is steadily approaching the key $84 billion mark.

Based on data from DeFiLlama, USDT’s market cap is up by over $480 million since the beginning of July, indicating an increasing level of adoption. Generally, the stablecoin’s total market share value has been on the rise for the majority of 2023, moving from $66.23 billion on January 1 to its current value of $83.80 billion.

In tandem with USDT’s market cap growth, Into The Block also noted the token’s circulating supply is up by almost 30% year to date. Interestingly, USDT’s market growth has also been reflected in its operator’s development. 

Back in May, Tether Holdings Ltd published its quarterly assurance report announcing a net profit of $1.48 billion for Q1 2023, bringing its excess reserve to an all-time high of $2.44 billion. 

Into The Block noted that currently, Tether is well on course to surpass those profit levels in Q2 and Q3 as there is an increase in the amount of USDT being issued.

The general stablecoin market has recorded a major decline in 2023, losing over $12.17 billion since the start of the year. However, during this period,  USDT has been waxing strong, accumulating over about $17 billion in market cap.

According to data from DeFiILama, Tether’s market dominance has grown by about 19% in 2023, as the token now accounts for two-thirds of the stablecoin market. 

While this development is mainly driven by USDT’s impressive performance, there has also been a notable decline in the market shares of some other prominent stablecoins.

For example, Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), which ranks as the second-largest stablecoin, has seen its market cap fall by a staggering 40% in 2023, with the current value now set at $26.26 billion.

Meanwhile, Binance USD (BUSD), with a market cap of $3.71 billion, has shed over 77% of its market shares following an embargo on its issuance earlier this year. 

At the time of writing, Tether’s value remains pegged at $1. With a market cap of 83.80 billion, the stablecoin ranks as the third biggest cryptocurrency falling Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)

In other news, DeFi stablecoins have been rolling out some impressive upgrades as they attempt to close the gap between them and their centralized competitors. In a tweet on Friday, Into The Block highlighted some of these developments.

Firstly, the MakerDAO recently hiked the DAI Savings Rate (DSR) to 3.49%, and there is the possibility of an increase to 8% in the coming weeks. Furthermore, the Frax protocol will be launching FRAX v3 in August as they look to make FRAX a fully algorithmic token, delinking its minting process from the USDC token.

In addition, there is Lybra Finance which lends its stablecoin eUSD to users at an interest rate of 0%. Other DeFi stablecoins with impressive features or upgrades include Curve Finance’s crvUSD and Aave’s GHO.