Tether Mints 1 Billion USDT Amid Bitcoin (BTC) Price Drop and Binance USD (BUSD) Scandal

As reported by Whale Alert, stablecoin issuer Tether has minted another billion USDT. The event came right in the midst of the Binance USD (BUSD) scandal, which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly seeking to have recognized as an unregistered security.

Tether’s CTO, Paolo Ardoino, was quick to announce to the public that the minting of a billion USDT is an authorized but unissued transaction. This amount will be used as inventory for issuance requests in future periods as well as chain swaps, Ardoino stressed.

USDT and BUSD are among the largest stablecoins on the crypto market, with market capitalizations of $68.58 billion and $16.13 billion, respectively. While Binance USD contains the name of the world’s leading crypto exchange, where 90% of its turnover is concentrated, the issuer of stablecoin is Paxos, which will be a defendant before the SEC. It is also important to note that BUSD also accounts for 21% of all customer reserves on Binance.

Aftershocks

The news noticeably shook Binance USD’s peg to the dollar and added a premium to the price of Tether USD. At the peak, BUSD fell 0.48% against USDT. At the moment, 1 BUSD is quoted at 0.998 USDT.

The head of Binance has already said that the exchange will continue to support BUSD in the near future but will also look to differentiate the investment products on offer. Paxos, on the other hand, stated that the existing BUSD offer remains fully backed and redeemable until at least February 2024.