The market cap of Tether (USDT), a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, has surged in current weeks, doubtlessly serving to to gas the current Bitcoin (BTC) rally that drove costs to close all-time highs. 

Paolo Ardoino, who serves as twin CTO to Bitfinex and Tether, tweeted Thursday that the provision of USDT elevated by 1 billion over 9 days, marking the second-fastest growth in its historical past. The report was set on Sept. 4, 2020 when, over eight days, USDT’s circulating provide elevated by 1 billion.

At press time, Tether had a market cap of practically $19 billion, which means that there are roughly 19 billion USDT in circulation at a worth of $1.00. 

Tether’s market cap has elevated by practically 4 instances for the reason that begin of 2020, in keeping with CoinMarketCap information.

Tether market cap by CoinMarketCap

On the present circulating provide, Tether has the fourth-highest market capitalization of any cryptocurrency.

USDT and different so-called stablecoins supply fiat onramps to cryptocurrency markets, thereby minimizing worth volatility and making certain straightforward redeemability as soon as digital belongings are bought. Though USDT is supposedly backed by actual U.S. greenback reserves, Tether has never produced a full audit of its financial institution accounts.

In 2019, a Bloomberg report claimed that Tether’s USDT was not fully pegged to the greenback, however fairly that the circulating provide is barely backed by 74% in money and short-term securities.

Tether can also be run by the identical administration group that oversees Bitfinex, one of many largest cryptocurrency exchanges on the planet. It has been alleged that Tether and Bitinex manipulated the 2017 bull market, although proving such a declare is troublesome as a result of advanced nature of decentralized cryptocurrency markets.

Authorized consultants knowledgeable Cointelegraph earlier this 12 months that the scope of market manipulation in an asset as novel as Bitcoin will likely be troublesome to ascertain.

Within the meantime, Tether stays the dominant stablecoin within the trade, accounting for greater than three-quarters of the stablecoin market cap.