Amid negative news for the crypto market, decentralized trading platforms are seeing large sales of the leading “stablecoin” USDT from Tether

The largest by market capitalization, Tether’s USDT stablecoin has come under pressure. The coin, which is nominally pegged to the U.S. dollar, temporarily lost parity with it.

The leading stablecoin fell slightly below $1. This came after the Curve decentralized platform’s 3Pool liquidity pool suffered a major asset imbalance. 3Pool is the third largest trading pool of all existing decentralized exchange (DEX) trading platforms (DeFi). And the largest in terms of the amount of stablecoins in it USDT and DAI. At the time of publication, USDT is at $0.999, according to CoinMarketCap.

Curve and Uniswap are the largest decentralized financial protocols for exchanging and trading cryptoassets. Which operate on the basis of software-based smart contracts without a central intermediary (e.g., an exchange).

A liquidity pool is a smart contract containing locked tokens that have been provided by platform users. And acting as an automated market maker on a decentralized exchange

Against the background of the latest news about tough actions of American regulators in relation to major market players, the panic among market participants is quite understandable.

However, the loss of USDT parity with the dollar is caused more by the actions of specific individuals in the liquidity pools of DeFi-platforms.
Our experts note that this happens not for the first time. And earlier it turned out to be a provocation [of market participants] in order to make quick money on opening the necessary position. And manipulations in DeFi were the starting shot.

As Ardoino wrote in a commentary to The Block, “The market as a whole is very tight right now.” He said recent news is pushing big players to exit the cryptocurrency markets. “Tether is a gateway for liquidity, both inbound and outbound. When interest in cryptocurrencies rises, we see an influx. And when the mood in the cryptocurrency market is negative, we see an outflow. But we can’t rule out a direct attack on Tether, as we saw in 2022,” adds Ardoino.

Tether chose Uruguay to mining cryptocurrency. Review by Crypto Upvotes experts

Tether has decided to get into Bitcoin mining and announced. It is investing in green power generation and launching bitcoin mining in Uruguay. As part of the project, the issuer of the leading stabelcoin USDT is partnering with a local licensed company.

Tether has thus expanded its scope to include energy and mining. The report states that the company’s goal is. It is to become a global technology leader and this investment demonstrates Tether’s “commitment to innovation in energy and the future of cryptocurrency.”

The Tether noted that it chose Uruguay, which is rich in natural resources. Because the country offers ideal conditions for renewable energy production. These are the creation of wind farms, solar parks and hydropower projects. 94% of the country’s electricity production comes from renewable energy sources. And that makes it a world leader in this area.

Our experts note that the USDT token issued by Tether has remained the largest stablecoin by market capitalization for many years. And third among all cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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.

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.

McDonald’s is conducting an experiment with сryptocurrency in a European city with a population of 63,000 people. It is also possible to pay with stabelcoin USDT

McDonald’s restaurant in Swiss Lugano began to accept cryptocurrency as payment. Bitcoin Magazine published a video of ordering in this restaurant on its Twitter. McDonald’s accepts Bitcoin and stabelcoin USDT from Tether.

In March 2022, the city of Lugano recognized Bitcoin, USDT and LVGA token as a means of payment. The city also signed a memorandum of understanding with Tether. In that memorandum, the company created two funds – $106 million to support crypto startups and $3 million for local stores and businesses.

Local residents can pay taxes with cryptocurrency. It is assumed that in the future they will also be able to pay in digital assets for parking tickets, utility bills and university tuition. Our experts note that already now more than 200 stores and businesses will accept cryptocurrency for products and services.

Creation of algorithmic stablecoins, working similarly to failed Terra USD coin, may become illegal

The U.S. Congress will consider a new bill to regulate cryptocurrencies. The bill could ban creation and issuance of algorithmic stablecoins for two years, Bloomberg reported. According to this document, the prohibition will apply to cryptocurrencies. Which are linked to prices of fiat currencies by another digital asset of the same issuer.

An example of such a cryptocurrency is stablecoin of failed project Terra UST. The collapse of this coin, supported by Luna token, began on May 8, 2022. On that day, UST lost its connection to USD after a one-time sale of tokens worth about $300 million. The collapse of this stablecoin led to billions of dollars in losses for ordinary investors.

The bill would also allow banks and nonbanks to issue their own stablecoins. And it would prohibit companies from pooling customer funds with company assets to protect consumers in case of company bankruptcy. The bill is currently in its drafting stage. Perhaps a vote on the bill will take place as early as next week, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources.

Our experts note that the U.S. Congress continues to work actively to regulate cryptocurrency sector and increase control in this area.