Tether Project Weekly Report (0815-0820)
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Why is USDC's market dominance falling again, while Tether's USDT is rising?
Despite the sharp decline in the cryptocurrency market this year, a new war is brewing among stablecoin issuers. Circle’s USDC stablecoin has been on a tear, with its market capitalization up 25% year-to-date.
However, things changed in the last month! The soaring USDC stablecoin market share has fallen 5% from a peak of $56 billion to $53.6 billion now. Tether's USDT, on the other hand, has been trying to regain lost ground. Tether's USDT has gained more than 3% of the market from the bottom in the past 30 days, adding more than $2 billion.
https://www.crypto-news-flash.com/why-is-usdc-market-dominance-on-a-fresh-decline-while-tethers-usdt-gaining-ground/
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Bitcoin, Ethereum stopped falling? From a Swiss yacht party, understand why USDT survived the run on storm
In fact, Tether has just survived the test of a wave of market turmoil since May. After the collapse of Terra UST, a stablecoin with a market value of 30 billion, and its price falling to zero overnight, the market fell into a huge panic, causing a large number of cryptocurrency redemptions.
In the past, the biggest criticism of Tether from the outside world was insufficient reserves. For this reason, the New York State Attorney General's Office has been involved in litigation for three years until a settlement agreement was reached in February 2021. Some of the conditions are that the parent company Bitfinex and Tether must meet: pay 1850 $10,000 settlement, to file reserve reports and leave New York "quarterly" for the next two years.
Reserve funds are similar to bank deposit reserves. After depositors put money in the bank, the bank will lend the money to those who need it. It may take three years for the borrower to repay the money, but the depositor can withdraw the money at any time. In order to meet the withdrawal needs of depositors at any time, the government requires banks to keep deposit reserves. The money has to stay in the vault, not earn money, and is therefore considered a cost to the bank.
But this year's huge redemption, USDT digested the redemption request of 700 million US dollars within 48 hours, accounting for 10% of its reserve assets; It is also difficult to achieve such a fast speed and volume in traditional banks.
Why can it be done? Ardoino, chief technology officer of Tether, explained that the quality of reserve assets has improved.
“The process of market testing you is stressful because you want customers to know that you have money, but it also proves that stablecoin merchants can do things that banks can’t,” Ardoino said proudly.
https://www.cw.com.tw/article/5122252
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Tether Takes the Lead: A Comparison of Stablecoin Adoption Rates
Competition in the stablecoin market is heating up, and every expert has something to say. Tether invented the concept of stablecoins, and over the years, USD₮ has pretty much dominated the entire stablecoin market. However, like any important innovation, success brings imitation.
Many other companies have developed their own stablecoins (fully-reserved stablecoins) using Tether's model; some of them have even gained considerable traction. Other companies tried to develop algorithmic stablecoins (UST/Luna), but almost failed.
This article will explore several other ways of assessing the adoption of various stablecoins besides total market cap/circulating supply, and discuss why market cap is a limited tool for assessing success.
https://tether.to/en/tether-in-the-lead-comparisons-of-stablecoin-adoption/
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USDT Market Cap Adds $2 Billion After Tornado Cash Crash
The Tether (USDT) token has added nearly $2 billion in market cap since the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control essentially banned Americans from using Tornado Cash on Aug. 8, adding $44 USD Coin (USDC) and Ether (ETH) addresses associated with the service to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list.
Individuals and criminal organizations have used Tornado Cash to launder more than $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency since 2019, according to OFAC. Funds believed to be linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group hack were also mixed through Tornado Cash.
Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USDC, even froze assets associated with 44 addresses flagged by OFAC. Circle’s move makes sense given the potential consequences of continuing to interact with addresses.
Interestingly, USDC’s market capitalization has fallen by about $2 billion from a high of about $55 billion in the past month, with a current market cap of about $53 billion. Various cryptocurrency market participants have noticed the decline in USDC on social media, and there is a correlation between the decline in USDC's market cap and the increase in USDT's market cap.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/usdt-market-cap-up-by-2-billion-following-tornado-cash-debacle
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Tether Changes Accounting Firm, Says It Will Issue Monthly Certifications on Stablecoin Backing
Stablecoin issuer Tether has commissioned BDO Italia to take over its regular attestation reports, saying it plans to publish reports monthly rather than quarterly.
Tether said Thursday that the company, a member of Binder Dijker Otte, or BDO, a global network of accounting and consulting firms, will issue a certification and assurance report detailing the $67 billion in assets that make up the USDT stablecoin reserve.
"The decision to partner with the BDO organization represents Tether's commitment to provide considerable transparency to those holding Tether tokens, providing daily updates on issued tokens and reserves, complemented by monthly assurance opinions," the company said in a press release.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/18/tether-swaps-accounting-firms-says-it-will-publish-monthly-attestation-on-stablecoin-backing/
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Tether publishes independent audit report from top 5 accounting firm BDO, reinforcing its commitment to transparency and revealing another major cut in commercial paper holdings
Tether Holdings Limited announced the latest quarterly assurance opinion completed by BDO, the world's top five independent public accounting firm. The certification reconfirms the accuracy of Tether's consolidated reserves report, which breaks down the group's holdings as of June 30, 2022.
As of June 30th, CCR and BDO confirmed that Tether's commercial paper holdings decreased by more than 58% from the previous quarter, from $20B to $8.5B, which is in line with Tether's commitment to the community. As previously announced, exposure to commercial paper will drop to 200 million by August 2022 and to zero by the end of the year. During the same period, Tether’s cash and bank deposit holdings increased by 32%.
https://tether.to/en/tether-releases-independent-auditor-report-from-top-5-accounting-firm-bdo-reinforcing-its-dedication-to-transparency-and-revealing-another-major-cut-to-commercial-paper-holdings/
