Tether is the largest stablecoin in terms of market capitalization and trading volume. A Hong Kong-based company iFinex Inc. launched it in 2014. Initially, its developers crafted it to attain the value of $1.00. Soon enough, it started gaining traction in the market. With 1 Billion in profits in the second quarter, it has now accumulated a market cap of $83 Billion.
It is an asset-backed cryptocurrency stablecoin that has a market share of 64% at press time. Additionally, it is one of the most traded cryptocurrencies right now. And before delving deeper into the market update, one must look at Tether’s journey to the pole position.
Tether: The Story Behind It All
It all began in 2012 when J.R. Willett published a whitepaper. In the document, he talked about a new crypto built over the Bitcoin blockchain. Notably, Willett also supported the theory of Mastercoin to promote the use of a “second layer” of blockchain. Later, it became the cornerstone of the Tether cryptocurrency.
As the idea took the form of a coin, it paved the way for an organization as well. Brock Pierce, one of the original members became the co-founder. Craig Sellars, the founder took the role of CTO of the Mastercoin Foundation. Tether had another precursor named “Realcoin”. The same team was behind this coin and they launched it in the same year.
The team deployed the Omi Layer Protocol and issued the first tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. The Foundation’s CEO Reeve Collins rechristened the project Tether on 20 November 2014. A little later, they announced that Tether will be supported by three different fiat currencies. They were United States dollars, Euros, and Japanese Yen.
Journey on Exchange
Tether is not the only venture of its parent company. The latter also owns the Bitfinex crypto exchange. It is one of the largest Bitcoin trading marketplaces in the world by volume. Bitfinex rolled out Tether for buying/selling on its platform in January 2015. For a brief duration, Ether processed US dollar transactions through Taiwanese banks.
The banks routed these funds outside Taiwan with the help of Wells Fargo Bank. Sensing something fishy, Tether stopped these transactions on 18 April 2017. Besides that, it also filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo the same year. Today, Tether issues token on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, SLP, EOS, OMG, and EOS networks.
Moreover, it maintains a portfolio of five distinct tokens. They are:
- -USD Tether on Bitcoin’s Omni Layer
- -Euro Tether on Bitcoin’s Omni Layer
- -USD Tether as ERC-20 Token
- -Euro Tether as ERC-20 Token
- -USD Tether as TRC-20 Token
Between the years 2017 to 2018, Tether’s circulation reached $ 2.8 Billion. It accounted for 80% of the Bitcoin volume. However, Stablecoin saw its share of ups and downs. Some analysts claimed that the team employed some price manipulation schemes to balloon the price. In October 2018, Tether’s price plummeted to $0.88 as a result of perceived risks on Bitfinex.
Upshot
Tether also announced that it won’t distribute the recent profit to its shareholders. It will use the amount to strengthen the liquidity levels and operations. The report also shared that the company registered a surplus of $850 Million in this quarter. Going by the pace of progress, one can say that USDT will set many more benchmarks in the future.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/08/01/tether-achieves-new-milestone-touches-1-billion-in-2nd-quarter/