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Tether—USDTTether—USATTether—USDTTether—USATTether—

USDT

by TetherSV

ScalingStage 5 of 5

Largest stablecoin by circulation, heavily used on Tron and Ethereum.

Updated 13 Aug 2026Checked 25 Sep0 updates this week

Milestones

No announced next step
  1. USDT launched on Bitcoin's Omni layer2014Complete.
  2. CFTC settlement over reserve claims ($41M)Oct 2021Complete.
  3. First full audit (KPMG, 2025 accounts)13 Aug 2026Complete.

Most important updates

  • 13 Aug 2026
  • 26 Mar 2026
  • 15 Oct 2021
  • 23 Feb 2021
  • 8 Jul 2014

Current obstacles

  • Riskier reserve mixKPMG completed Tether's first full audit in Aug 2026, but reserves still include gold, bitcoin and loans, riskier than regulated rivals hold.

Physics limits

  • A thin buffer over volatile assetsGold, bitcoin and loans can fall 20–50% in a crash, while excess reserves were about 2% of liabilities in June 2026. A large drop in those assets at once would leave tokens under-backed.
  • Redemption runs on bank railsTokens move on blockchains, but dollars move through banks. If banking partners drop the issuer, the token can trade below $1 even with full reserves.

How it works

3 parts
The US Treasury building in Washington: most USDT reserves are short-term US Treasury bills, loans to this government
The US Treasury building in Washington: most USDT reserves are short-term US Treasury bills, loans to this governmentPhoto: MeanieHyaena · CC BY 4.0 (opens commons.wikimedia.org)
Issuance

Minted for verified clients

Verified clients send dollars to Tether, which issues USDT; redemptions burn tokens. Most people just trade USDT on exchanges instead.

Reserves

Mostly Treasury bills

Backing is mostly short US Treasury bills and repos, plus gold, bitcoin and secured loans, with a small buffer of excess reserves.

Chains

Tron and Ethereum carry most

USDT is a token contract on many chains. Tron carries much of it because transfers there are cheap, which made it popular for payments.

Update log

6 updates

Thu 13 Aug

  • Major: BlogOther

Thu 26 Mar

  • Minor: PressOther

Thu 1 Jun 2023

  • Minor: BlogCommercial

Fri 15 Oct 2021

  • Major: RegulatorRegulatory

Tue 23 Feb 2021

  • Major: PressRegulatory

Tue 8 Jul 2014

  • Major: PressCommercial

About Tether

The team behind USDT

Tether

USDT stablecoin, USAT, Bitcoin mining

Issuer of USDT, the largest stablecoin, used heavily for trading and for access to dollars abroad. Based in El Salvador since 2025, it earns big profits on Treasury reserves. In Jan 2026 it launched USAT, a US-regulated stablecoin issued via Anchorage Digital Bank.

  • Reported more than $13B profit for 2024, mostly interest on US Treasuries.
  • Launched USAT for US users under the GENIUS Act in Jan 2026.
  • Sought to raise money at a ~$500B valuation in 2025-2026, later shrinking the raise.

tether.to (opens tether.to)Company profile →

Founded
201412 yrs
Headquarters
El Salvador
Status
Private
Valuation
private
Works in
CryptoStablecoins & payments
Coverage
2 programs · 11 updateslatest 3d agochecked 25 Sep
People
Paolo Ardoino (opens en.wikipedia.org)CEOBo Hines (opens en.wikipedia.org)CEO, USAT
Primer