① Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether Holdings SA, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, recently announced that the market capitalization of its USDT – the world's largest stablecoin – has surpassed $160 billion for the first time, calling it an "exciting new milestone";
② As regulatory frameworks become clearer, the stablecoin market is poised for further expansion.

Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether Holdings SA, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, recently announced that the market capitalization of its USDT – the world's largest stablecoin – has surpassed $160 billion for the first time, calling it an "exciting new milestone".

In an X post on Wednesday, Ardoino stated this achievement underscores USDT's growing role as a "digital dollar for billions in emerging and developing markets."

In May this year, USDT's market cap broke through the $150 billion mark.

Ardoino noted that over 400 million people globally use USDT, with 35 million wallets added per quarter. Particularly in emerging markets, it serves as a reliable dollar alternative.

USDT is a cryptocurrency whose value is pegged nearly 1:1 to the US dollar. Since its launch in 2014, USDT has evolved into the highest-volume stablecoin, followed by USDC issued by Circle.

According to DefiLlama data on USDT's blockchain distribution, Tron-based USDT has the highest issuance volume, currently around $81 billion, while Ethereum-based (GRAYSCALE ETHEREUM MINI TRUST(ETH.US)) issuance stands at $65 billion. USDT issuance on other networks is significantly smaller: $6.8 billion on BNB Chain, $2.3 billion on Solana, and $1.1 billion on Polygon.

Per Tether's statement, cash and cash equivalents (primarily short-term US Treasuries) account for 81.5% of USDT's backing reserves, while Bitcoin constitutes 5.1%.

As of Q2 2025, Tether holds over $127 billion in US Treasuries, making it the world's 18th largest holder. The company reported over $1 billion in operating profit for Q1.

Tether has been continuously minting new tokens. On Wednesday alone, the company produced another $1 billion USDT, bringing the total minted in the past week to over $4 billion.

Last week, Tether announced it will cease USDT redemptions on five legacy blockchains effective September 1st, including Omni Layer, Bitcoin Cash SLP, Kusama, EOS (now Vaulta), and Algorand.

According to Ardoino, this move aims to allow the company to focus on platforms offering higher scalability, active developer engagement, and community participation – key elements driving the next wave of stablecoin adoption.

As regulatory frameworks become clearer, the stablecoin market is poised for further expansion.

On July 17th local time, the US House of Representatives passed the Guiding and Establishing National Standards for United States Stablecoins Act (commonly known as the Genius Act) by a vote of 308-122. This legislation aims for significant regulatory reform in the cryptocurrency sector. The bill has been sent to US President Trump and is expected to be signed into law.