USDT Market Capitalization Reaches $160 Billion, Strengthening Its Role as a "Digital Dollar"

The market capitalization of Tether’s USDT stablecoin has exceeded $160 billion, confirming its status as the digital dollar, with the Tron blockchain continuing to lead in issuance volumes.

The market capitalization of Tether’s USDT stablecoin has exceeded $160 billion, confirming its status as the digital dollar, with the Tron blockchain continuing to lead in issuance volumes.

The world’s largest stablecoin, Tether (USDT), has reached a market capitalization of $160 billion for the first time. The company’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, called it “another impressive milestone” in his post on X. He emphasized that USDT is becoming the digital dollar for billions of people in developing countries. In May 2025, USDT’s market cap surpassed the $150 billion mark for the first time.

According to Ardoino, more than 400 million people globally use USDT, with the number of wallets increasing by 35 million every quarter. The stablecoin is especially popular in developing markets as a reliable alternative to the US dollar.

According to DefiLlama, the largest volume of USDT is hosted on the Tron blockchain — approximately $81 billion. Ethereum accounts for $65 billion, while other networks lag behind: BNB Chain — $6.8 billion, Solana — $2.3 billion, and Polygon — $1.1 billion.

USDT Is Backed by Cash and US Treasury Bonds

Tether’s report shows that 81.5% of USDT reserves consist of cash and cash equivalents, primarily short-term US Treasury bills. Around 5.1% is backed by Bitcoin.

As of Q2 2025, Tether holds more than $127 billion worth of US Treasury bonds. This amount is comparable to the sovereign debt issuances of countries like South Korea and Germany. In Q1, the company reported an operating profit exceeding $1 billion.

Tether continues to actively issue new tokens. On Wednesday alone, $1 billion worth of USDT was issued, and the total issuance over the past week exceeded $4 billion.

Last week, the company announced it would discontinue USDT support on five blockchains: Omni Layer, Bitcoin Cash SLP, Kusama, EOS (now Vaulta), and Algorand. Starting September 1, 2025, token redemptions on these networks will no longer be possible. CEO Ardoino explained that this decision would allow the company to focus on more promising blockchains with better scalability, active developer communities, and high user engagement.

Stablecoin Market Expands Amid Growing Regulatory Transparency

The stablecoin market shows steady growth, with fiat-pegged digital assets increasingly used for online transactions. In 2024, the total stablecoin transaction volume surpassed that of traditional payment giants Visa and Mastercard.

This growth is happening amid increased regulatory attention from the Trump administration, particularly regarding the GENIUS Act. The bill received bipartisan support in the Senate Banking Committee and was passed by the upper chamber in June. However, its consideration in the House of Representatives was temporarily stalled after a key procedural vote was blocked. A new vote on the GENIUS Act as a standalone bill is scheduled for Thursday.

Editor: Alyona Nabok

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