Tether supply starts to increase after three-month decline
The world’s largest stablecoin, Tether (USDT) has expanded its circulating supply following almost three months of reductions, in what could be a sign the crypto markets are slowly recovering.
The first mint in almost three months occurred on July 29, and there have been three more, with the latest on August 2, according to CoinMarketCap. The USDT injections have been small, however, lifting Tether’s market cap by just 0.7% or just under $500 million.
According to the Tether transparency report, there is now 66.3 billion USDT in circulation. This gives the stablecoin a total market share of around 43%.
Tether supply reached an all-time high in early May when it topped 83 billion USDT. The collapse of the Terra ecosystem, resultant crypto contagion, and large-scale redemptions forced the company to reduce the circulating supply, which fell 21% to a low of 65.8 billion in late July.
This has enabled rival company Circle to increase the market share of its stablecoin USDC, which now commands a 36% slice with a $54.5 billion market cap. As reported by Cointelegraph last month, USDC volume on Ethereum actually flipped Tether’s for a period as the number two stablecoin continues to catch up.
Over the weekend, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao commented on the amount of stablecoins poised to re-enter the markets, stating:
Stablecoins currently represent 13.6% of the entire crypto market capitalization, which is close to its all-time highest levels
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