Tether’s USDT stands as the world’s largest stablecoin.
USDT launched in 2014 under the name Realcoin. Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins, Craig Sellars, and Giancarlo Devasini co-founded Tether and played a significant role in its initial development. Currently, Paolo Ardoino is the CEO leading Tether to provide stable digital assets that mirror the value of real-world currencies. The company replaced Richard Heathcote, who stepped down as the CIO, with Zachary Lyons in mid-March.
USDT is designed to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar. The main purpose of USDT is to provide liquidity in the markets as well as give exposure to first-timers in the cryptocurrency space.
Tether [USDT] accounted for 58% of all stablecoins issued, which is equivalent to $189 billion, as per DeFiLlama data. With a supply of 189 billion USDT, it ranked as the third most-capped crypto. Its daily trading volume has averaged between $30 billion and $50 billion since USDT was the quoted currency for most assets.
The process of minting USDT was procedural, as described in Tether’s whitepaper. First, users deposit fiat into Tether’s Limited bank account. Tether generates credits, which are transferred to exchanges. Then users redeem fiat currency for USDT.
Lastly, this Tether is destroyed after redemption. Tether’s weaknesses included the possibility of bankruptcy or insolvency, banks freezing funds, or absconding with reserves. Still, exchange and wallet audits were very unreliable, taking into account the aforementioned weaknesses.
The USDT issuer first built the platform on the Bitcoin network using the Omni Layer. However, it has since expanded to other networks like Ethereum and TRON, among others, with the goal being to integrate deployment of the stablecoins even in Layer 2 (L2) solutions. About 45.77% of all USDT issued was on the TRON blockchain, and 43.80% was on Ethereum, while other chains shared the remaining 10% of all its supply. Still, there was another $9.73 billion in USDT that was yet to be released.
Tether also expanded the number of products it offers, with the most recent being the tokenization of gold, Tether Gold [XAUT]. The Total Asset Value for XAUT was at $2.78 billion, with holders exceeding 36,275 launched on the Ethereum and Avalanche blockchains.
Other stablecoins included Euro Tether [EURT], Mexican pesos [MXNT], and offshore Chinese yuan [CNHT]. The company also launched USAT on the 31st of January, 2026, with its supply reserves exceeding $17 million in only a month.
These products seem not to be ending soon, as Paolo Ardoino confirmed that they would be launching another product in less than 30 days. Late in 2025, there were also plans to launch a stock for Tether similar to that of their stablecoin issuer competitor, Circle [CRCL]. The team was aiming to raise about $20 billion for the $500 billion valuation of their tokenized equity.
Tether has not been left behind in integrating the fast-rising Artificial Intelligence (AI) narrative. Tether launched an AI framework for billion-parameter models running on consumer GPUs and smartphones.
These large language models would be running on AMD, Intel, Apple, Metal, and mobile GPUs for Pixel 9, S25, and iPhone 16 for processes that initially required dedicated GPUs. The development was an indication that Tether was positioning to pave the way for the Agentic Economy, which is huge in the cryptocurrency sector. Stanley Druckenmiller, a billionaire, confirmed the efficiency of stablecoin rails, projecting the flip would be massive in the next 15 years or so.
All these developments have played a hand in Tether becoming the most profitable crypto company. Over the last two years, its revenue from fees has continued to grow. In 2025, Tether delivered $10 billion in profits, $6.3 billion in excess reserves, and a record $141 billion exposure in U.S. Treasury holdings.
According to Token Terminal, 2026 has generated over $100 million per day. Similarly, the number of active addresses has been making new peaks; recently, the figure clocked 1.3 million. In terms of user growth, USDT was only second to Bitcoin, with 550 million, while BTC had 571 million. These users were growing by over 30 million quarterly. The Total Value Locked (TVL) was at $188 billion. The monthly trading volume for stablecoins was nearing $2 trillion by 2026, with USDT and USDC as the main contributors.
More than 120 companies had invested in Tether, including banks and crypto firms. Some of these firms include Parfin, Anchorage Digital, Ark Labs, Deltec Bank, Cantor Fitzgerald, and payment method companies like MoonPay. Anchorage received an investment of about $100 million in Strategic Equity from Tether.
Moreover, exchanges like Binance, OKX, Coinbase, and Bitget were leading, with most of this liquidity on Binance. About $2.2 billion flowed into the exchange, which was the highest in 2026. Tether was also making more investments after a $150 million Strategic Investment in Gold.com. All these investments indicate expanding access to tokenized and physical gold and equities.
Meanwhile, USDT adoption was facing a critical test as banks battled crypto firms in decisions about the CLARITY Act. This is because stablecoin rails were providing returns, unlike banks, which meant they were bringing competition to the banking institutions. This change follows after the U.S. passed the Stablecoin Act.
For the market participants, USDT dominance was growing in the face of market uncertainties. Traders shifted into stablecoins amid crypto volatility, as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were bearish, while USDT remained stable during fluctuations. The short-term signal was bullish, reflecting active trader interest.
Altogether, USDT remains the largest stablecoin in the market by providing liquidity and exposure to crypto for new users. However, Tether remains in competition with HyperliquidX, Circle, PayPal, World Liberty, Ethena, BUIDL, Falcon, Aave Protocol, and Native Markets, among others.
