Tether has decided to regularly buy millions of dollars worth of BTC

Tether announced a change in investment strategy and the decision to increase the share of the first cryptocurrency in providing reserves

Tether has decided to regularly buy millions of dollars worth of Bitcoins. The company announced that it would spend up to 15% of its realized operating income on buying Bitcoins. The company may have already spent $222 million to buy its first cryptocurrency. This was calculated by CNBC, based on Tether’s first-quarter statements.

The issuer of Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by capitalization, announced a new investment strategy. Starting in May 2023, the company will begin regularly allocating a portion of its net realized operating income to buying Bitcoins.

According to Tether’s first-quarter report, Tether had about $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in its reserves at the end of March. And that was about 2% of their total holdings. About 85% of the collateral was held in cash and cash equivalents. And it was also placed in short-term deposits – mostly in U.S. Treasury bills.

Although many institutional investors deposit their Bitcoins with third parties. Then Tether takes a “not your keys, not your Bitcoin” stance. And it keeps the assets on its own, the company said in a press release.

“Bitcoin has consistently proven to be sustainable and has evolved into a long-term savings vehicle with significant growth potential. Its limited supply, decentralized nature and widespread adoption have made Bitcoin the preferred choice among both institutional and retail investors,” said Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino.

Investing in Bitcoin, he said, is one way to boost Tether’s portfolio performance. And the company expects the BTC exchange rate to rise.

Tether will also invest in building infrastructure for Bitcoin mining and exploring other “innovative opportunities in the ever-evolving landscape of digital assets.”

Our experts note that in the fourth quarter of 2022, Tether posted a profit of $700 million. The USDT issuer closed the first quarter of this year with a profit of $1.48 billion. The company noted that this is a “huge success.” And they said they already have an “extremely positive outlook” for the second quarter of this year as well.

 

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Circle adjusted USDC collateral in case of default on U.S. government debt

The issuer of the second most capitalized stablecoin USDC refused U.S. Treasury securities maturing after May 31

Circle has refused to back its reserves with U.S. Treasury securities maturing after May 31 because of concerns. Also Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire told Politico that the government could default on its debt. Stablecoin issuer USD Coin (USDC) has adjusted its provisioning in favor of short-term Treasury securities.

According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, U.S. authorities may run out of cash to make payments by June 1. Because the national debt limit of $31.4 trillion is already exceeded. If the issue with the limit of the national debt will not be solved. Then the U.S. could face a debt default.

“We don’t want to bear the investment risk that could materialize if the U.S. government suddenly can’t pay its debts,” Allaire said.

Circle’s USDC is the second-largest Stablecoin by market capitalization. There are about 30.1 billion tokens in circulation. Data from the Circle Reserve Fund, which is managed by BlackRock,. And they show that the company does not hold U.S. government debt securities maturing later than May 31.

Our experts note that the issuer of the largest USDT stablecoin by capitalization, Tether, has invested most of its reserves in U.S. government debt securities. About 85% of all its reserves are held as liquid assets. And money in bank accounts, cash equivalents and other short-term instruments, among which U.S. Treasury bills occupy 76.5%.

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Cryptotraders made money on shorting TUSD stablecoin

Abnormal demand for TUSD Stablecoin supported by the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance led to the growth of its rate above $1. And opened up non-standard opportunities for earnings

High demand for TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin led to the fact. At the moment, its rate exceeded $1 by 20%. This was used by cryptocurrency traders. Who played on the decrease of stablecoin. At the same time, expecting its return to parity with the dollar soon. Massive borrowing of TUSD in decentralized credit services led to a high growth of their interest rates.

TUSD’s share of the most capitalized stablecoin is skyrocketing. And largely thanks to the support of the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The coin is ranked 29th by CoinMarketCap among all existing crypto-assets. Its market capitalization rose to $2.4 billion this week, though it was still at $755 million at the end of 2022.

Stablecoin was relatively unpopular until Binance eliminated trading commissions in the BTC/TUSD pair. From May 1 to May 2, abnormal demand for Stablecoin led to its decoupling from the dollar exchange rate (called depreciation). But if decoupling from the dollar for stablecoins usually implies a drop in the exchange rate. That’s what happened with the USDC during the Sillion Valley Bank crash in March. TUSD, on the other hand, was momentarily trading at a premium, hitting a high of $1.20.

How traders made money

The BTC/TUSD pair on Binance is now one of the largest trading pairs by volume in the entire industry. TUSD’s liquidity is not keeping up with its volumes. Which makes such a depeg more likely.

Traders have been using the decentralized Aave and Compound credit protocols. To borrow large amounts in TUSD. And quickly exchanged them for USDC, another stablecoin with a link to the U.S. dollar.

Aave and Compound are decentralized lending and borrowing protocols running on the Ethereum blockchain. Users of both can lend or borrow cryptoassets without intermediaries, using both stable and variable interest rates.

The most common strategy was to borrow TUSD and then exchange it for USDC. Which allowed us to effectively “short” TUSD from its increased price. However, neither Aave nor Compound has such large volumes of TUSD. Because of this, borrowing rates rose quickly, exceeding 100% per annum in both protocols.

TUSD demand rises

Speculation in the loan protocols is not the only reason for the increased demand for TUSD stablecoin. Our experts note that Binance has placed the highly popular SUI token on its Launchpool platform. At the same time, it gave users the opportunity to place BNB coins or TUSD stablecoins in staking, receiving income in the form of SUI tokens. Amid strong excitement, investors placed $4 billion worth of assets on the platform, with $770 million of that coming from TUSD.

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Why stablecoin USDT market share continues to grow

Stablecoin USDT from Tether maintains leadership and grows in volume despite criticism and regulatory attention. Crypto Upvotes expert review

Tether is preparing to release its Q1 earnings report. USDT’s market capitalization reached $85 billion and recovered to its all-time high before the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022.

Since the beginning of the year, the company has issued $15 billion in new USDT. And stablecoin’s market share has grown another 15%. This growth was partly due to the fact that its closest competitors, Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) and Paxos’ BUSD, were struggling. The former suffered after the collapse of Sillicon Valley Bank. The second was banned by U.S. regulators. The outflow of funds from both stablecoins was in the billions of dollars. And investors probably switched from them to USDT. Which proved to be a more “stable” asset in the period of turbulence in the markets.

According to Blockworks Research, Tether has a 63% market share. Which is the highest in the last two years.

Last week, the company issued another 1 billion USDT, though they have yet to go into circulation. According to Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino, this batch of USDT will be used for further USDT issuance requests and inter-network conversions. Tether has a long history of issuing USDT before funds are actually received into accounts. Stablecoin is issued in large volumes at once. And the inclusion of coins in circulation is done as requests are received from users or exchanges.

USDT is issued on 13 blockchains, including Solana, Algorand, BNB Chain or Polygon in addition to Ethereum. There are 35 billion tokens issued on Ethereum. But the largest amount of Stablecoin is on the Tron network – 45 billion USDT. It is USDT in TRC20 standard token format that has become the most popular “stablecoin” due to lower commissions and transaction processing speeds compared to other networks.

Geographical advantage of USDT

Tether is registered in the British Virgin Islands, while the issuers of the other “stablecoins” from the first three are registered in the United States. The approach to regulating stablecoins is particularly acute on the agenda of U.S. lawmakers.

Last week, USDT was discussed at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Congress. Where the main topic was the lack of federal regulations for stablecoin issuers in the US. Representatives from the local crypto business also took part in the hearing. And including, chief issuer strategist behind USDC Circle Dante Diparte. As well as Austin Campbell, former chief risk officer at Paxos, which previously issued BUSD.

Explaining the dominant position of USDT, the invited experts referred to the “advantage of the first project as a stablecoin” Tether. But they also cited the fact that the issuer is registered outside the U.S. among the main advantages.

Speaking to Bloomberg reporters, Henry Elder, head of the American fund Wave Digital Assets, told DeFi. About the fact that among large investors there is a mass shift from USDC to other, less U.S.-oriented stablecoins. And this will continue as long as the United States remains “irrationally hostile” to cryptocurrencies in general and to Stablecoins in particular.

New players in the market of stablecoins are expected

Kai Sheffield, head of cryptocurrency at Visa, said that the company “has an ambitious roadmap for cryptocurrency products”. In doing so, he published a link to a job page for developers. According to him, the introduction of payments in Stablecoin is what the finance company intends to focus on.

Despite the obvious dominance of USDT, the landscape of the “stablecoin” market is changing. The Binance exchange has refocused on the little-known TrueUSD (TUSD) token after it banned BUSD issuance until this year. The leading platform canceled all zero trading fees. But made an exception for Stablecoin TUSD. The token now represents the largest asset by trading volume on centralized exchanges, paired with Bitcoin.

Analysts suggest that TUSD, which has a 9% share of total trading volume on centralized crypto exchanges. In the coming months, it could take the second place in this indicator after Tether.

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SG Forge announces the launch of stablecoin

SG Forge, a digital subsidiary of Societe Generale, announces the launch of Stablecoin

Digital services provider and subsidiary of Societe Generale. SG Forge, announced the launch of a EUR CoinVertible (EURCV) stablecoin tied to the euro exchange rate for institutional clients. This token runs on the Ethereum blockchain.

The goal of issuing stablecoin was to “bridge the gap” between traditional capital markets and the digital asset ecosystem, SG Forge said in a statement. The company envisions the coin to become a secure means of payment. It will enable new solutions in corporate treasury and cash management. And it will be used to provide liquidity in the network.

SG Forge points out that the system provides “full segregation” of collateral assets. At the same time supporting the value of EUR CoinVertible, from the issuer of tokens. And it will update daily the information about the reserves on the company’s website.

The new digital asset will only be available to customers registered by Societe Generale Group in accordance with existing KYC verification procedures. And AML (Anti-Money Laundering) requirements.

In early April, Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual announced the launch of the BTG Dol, a U.S. dollar-linked stablecoin. In Japan, banks are also considering issuing stablecoins, so far it is a matter of testing.

 

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Brazilian bank issues USD stablecoin on Polygon blockchain

BTG Dol stablecoin token is available for buy from 100 Brazilian reals ($20) on the investment platform of BTG Pactual bank and in the cryptocurrency app Mynt

Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual announced the launch of stablecoin BTG Dol. Which will be related to the U.S. dollar exchange rate. The token will be based on the Polygon blockchain, the bank told DeCrypt.

BTG Pactual noted that this is the world’s first ” dollar” stablecoin issued by the bank. Also according to André Portillo, head of digital assets at BTG Pactual.  This asset will allow its owners to transfer some of their capital into dollars in a simple, efficient and safe way.

Additionally, BTG Pactual will hold and manage reserves of stablecoin. It will also be responsible for regulatory compliance.

Also BTG Dol is available for purchase from 100 Brazilian reais (about $20). It can be purchased on the BTG Pactual investment platform and in the Mynt app. Which was launched by the bank in 2021 and currently supports 22 cryptocurrencies.

Also Polygon is a Layer 2 solution for Ethereum, one of several blockchain platforms. Which allows to optimize the processing of transactions on network. This blockchain is used by Mastercard, Adidas, Disney, Starbucks, Adobe and many others.

Our experts note that the Polygon token (MATIC) is ranked tenth by market capitalization among all cryptocurrencies with an index of $10.4 billion.

 

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U.S. regulators declared war on BUSD and basically on all stablecoins

Attack of American regulators on BUSD and what consequences will face Binance from impossibility to issue its own stablecoin. Review by Crypto-Upvotes experts

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has informed Paxos Trust that it plans to sue it for violating investor protection laws. According to the regulator, Binance USD (BUSD), the third most capitalized stablecoin, is the third-largest. This digital asset, which Paxos issues, is an unregistered security. It is not yet known whether the SEC notice specifically relates to the issuance of BUSD, its listing on exchanges, or both.

The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has since ordered Paxos to cease issuing new BUSD tokens altogether. In listing the consequences of stopping the issuance of BUSD, Changpeng Zhao, head of the Binance exchange, admitted. That capitalization of this asset will continue to decline and investors will start to switch to other stablecoins.

Risks to other stablecoins are high

News about banning issue of stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD) had a negative impact on the market. But not as much as from the collapsed FTX exchange. The SEC is investigating the Binance exchange. So Paxos is also in target of the regulator and the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

The regulator considers BUSD to be an unregistered security. But with that logic, other stablecoins, USDT and USDC, would also be at risk. Most likely, someone wants to get control of Binance. And creating problems not only for the leading exchange, but also for the whole industry. The risks to other Stablecoins are high.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said he will continue to support BUSD for the foreseeable future. The company predicts that customers will switch to other stablecoins. Therefore, the platform will make changes accordingly.

U.S. regulators declare war on stabelcoins

There are no frontiers for U.S. regulators. All it takes is one American citizen using some platform or protocol. For US regulators to consider these protocols as belonging to their jurisdiction. Attack on stablecoin issuers was expected, the SEC has been saying for years that these companies are not transparent enough. And they don’t comply with U.S. banking laws, don’t have the necessary reserves and so on. If SEC attacked a BUSD issuer, it would be wise to get ready for attacks on other stablecoins, especially USDT and USDC. Given USDT’s majority share of stablecoin market. An attack on them is fraught with a serious crisis in cryptocurrency market and subsequent collapse of all coins without exception.

Our experts note that U.S. regulators have openly declared war on at least Binance itself. In a broader sense, this is a continuation of the fight against stablecoins as an element of opposition to the classical financial system on behalf of the Web 3.0 sphere.

This is a global and extremely important event. It should be taken carefully, and you should read the contents of the documents published by the NYDFS regulator about the ban on continuing to issue BUSD. In fact, it means banning BUSD, but it may be followed by a series of lawsuits.

Our experts are sure that Binance was ready for that. And its management will find a legal and reasonable way out of this situation. Further wide usage of BUSD is out of the question. Perhaps, there will be some alternative or solution. The other major exchanges that issue stablecoins should be prepared for an attack and take some action. In fact, war has been declared on all of them.

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Ethereum blockchain was used by an Australian bank to create its own stablecoin

Launch of a new cryptocurrency, attached to Australian dollar exchange rate on Ethereum blockchain, scheduled for mid-2023. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

National Australia Bank (NAB), one of four major Australian banks, has created an AUDN stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain. It will be attached to the rate of Australian dollar (AUD), according to Australian Financial Review. Banks plan to launch this coin in mid-2023.

The goal of creating AUDN is to allow bank customers to make real-time blockchain-based settlements in Australian dollars, the NAB said. AUDN can also be used for a number of other purposes, including carbon credit trading and repo transactions.

NAB also intends to use AUDN for low-cost international transfers. According to the bank, the technology will avoid using the SWIFT system. And reduce dependence on complex and costly relationships with correspondent banks when sending money abroad.

For at least three months AUDN will not be available to customers. Because while the bank under the supervision of regulators is conducting internal testing. Including transfers between subsidiaries and branches.

AUDN is not the first stablecoin to be pegged to the Australian dollar. 9 months earlier, Australia-New Zealand banking group ANZ Bank issued the A$DC (“A dollar DC”) coin. Also Novatti payment system created the AUDD stablecoin on Stellar blockchain. And Ettle has launched AUDE token on Ethereum and Algorand.

There are also stablecoins linked to Australian dollar exchange rates such as AUDT, XAUD, AUDRamp and TrueAUD. Volumes of these cryptocurrencies are minimal.

Last month, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said that regulating stable coins should be a priority and should be treated the same as bank deposits. Our experts note that Australia is also actively developing legislation and introducing technology for other digital assets. For example, in the middle of last year, Australian Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate proposed accepting cryptocurrency in payment of municipal taxes.

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