Tether Reaches another Milestone as its Market Cap Crosses the $4 Billion Mark

The total market capitalization of Tether’s USDT token has recently passed the $4 billion mark. This remarkable feat for the stablecoin is an all-time high record. The digital asset managed to achieve this milestone in the middle of a long-standing controversy. The coin has faced allegations of been used to facilitate the manipulation f crypto prices.

According to available data by CoinMarketCap, there are at least 4.02 billion USDT tokens currently in circulation. While more than $1 billion worth of Tether tokens has been minted from May 16 to the current date. On May 16, the total market capitalization of the stablecoin was below $3 billion. This means that Tether has added $1 billion to its market cap since May 16.

Tether (USDT) Price Today – USDT / USD

NamePrice
bitcoin
Bitcoin
$0.00
tether
Tether
$0.00

Tether’s Supply Increase is as a Result of the Ethereum-basedERC-20 Tokens

At the start of the year, there was no less than $1.8 billion worth of Tether’s USDT tokens in the entire crypto ecosystem. Most of the stablecoin’s supply increase can actually be related to an improvement in the number of ERC-20 tokens provided. The current data shows that over 500 million USDT were on the Ethereum Blockchain as of the early part of June. While the contract address of the crypto shows a total circulating supply of $1.45 billion on its network.

Most of the tokens have already been allocated or requisitioned for users. While the currently circulating BTC-based USDT tokens have about $260 million remaining to allocate. The Ethereum address indicates that there is only $21 million worth of Tether left to be distributed.

Tether’s Supply Rise is accompanied by the Growing Crypto Prices

The rise in Tether’s supply so far this year has been accompanied by growing crypto prices. During that period the price of Bitcoin went from $3,200 in December of 2018 (during the crypto winter) to $14,000 this year just before the recent price correction. The price of Bitcoin is currently trading at $9,500 as of press time.

A number of critics claim that the stablecoin (Tether) is been used to manipulate crypto prices or markets. The accusation is that Tether prints new tokens to facilitate the pumping of BTC price in times of need. In fact, earlier in the year, Bitfinex exchange and Tether, the two companies that share the same management, faced fraud allegations. They were petitioned by the Attorney General of New York.

No Evidence of Suggesting USDT was used to Manipulate Bitcoin Price in 2017

While there are a number of studies that suggest that USDT tokens have actually been used to manipulate the price of Bitcoin back in 2017 when it touched the 20k mar. There are also studies that didn’t find any evidence that USDT issuances had resulted in bitcoin price rise back in 2017. Earlier in the year Will Harborne, the founder of Ethfinex exchange, cited that Tether had printed tokens worth $600 million.

This was done to meet the demand from the wealthy clients who were reportedly looking to cash in on Bitcoin before the price of the leading digital currency increased. This according to Harborne, means that new Tether issuances show an increase in the demand of the tokens from wealthy clients. However, Tether has denied any claims of wrongdoing such as manipulating crypto prices.

Brian Lubin is a Crypto News Reporter for Smartereum. He's well-known for his reports on the crypto markets.

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