Tether Issues Another 1 Billion USDT on Ethereum, Second Billion-Dollar Mint in Less than Two Months

Tether Issues Another 1 Billion USDT on Ethereum, Second Billion-Dollar Mint in Less than Two Months

Tether, the leading stablecoin issuer, has recently minted 1 billion USDT tokens on the Ethereum blockchain as part of its efforts to replenish its inventory. This marks Tether’s second billion-dollar USDT mint within a span of less than two months.

While some observers view the creation of new USDT tokens as a potential driver for increased demand in the cryptocurrency market, Tether’s Chief Technology Officer, Paolo Ardoino, clarified that the primary purpose of minting these tokens is to facilitate chain swap functions.

Ardoino explained that Tether collaborates periodically with various third parties, such as exchanges and hedge funds, to assist them in rebalancing the liquidity of their USDT holdings across different blockchain networks. For instance, exchanges that support Tether USDT on multiple chains may find themselves with a concentration of tokens on one chain, like Tron, while needing to process withdrawals on another chain, such as Ethereum. Consequently, these third parties request a chain swap to enable seamless asset transfers.

Chain swap refers to the process of transferring tokens from one blockchain network to another, allowing users to bridge assets across multiple chains.

Following the publication of this news, Binance announced via Twitter that it plans to swap 750 million USDT on the Tron network for USDT on Ethereum directly with Tether. The purpose of this swap, according to Binance, is to ensure stablecoin liquidity across all chains for its users. Tether confirmed the upcoming chain swap with a third party in a separate tweet without specifically mentioning Binance, but Ardoino later confirmed that Binance is indeed the party involved.

This recent billion-dollar USDT mint is the second of its kind by Tether within a span of two months. In April, the stablecoin issuer minted 1 billion USDT tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. It’s worth noting that the minted USDT tokens remain in Tether’s treasury and are categorized as “authorized but not issued,” meaning they are not currently part of the total market capitalization.

According to The Block’s Data Dashboard, Tether continues to be the largest stablecoin issuer across all blockchain networks. The current total supply of USDT stands at over 83 billion tokens.