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Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes stablecoin issuer Tether could become the world’s most profitable company if emerging markets shift to using USDT as a primary currency. In a new Bitwise blog note, Hougan says that Tether already holds a near-total share of the stablecoin market in many non-Western countries. “But Tether is targeting a very large market. It has a nearly 100% share of the stablecoin market in non-Western countries. There’s a chance that many emerging market countries will convert from primarily using their own currencies to using USDT. If that happens, Tether could end up managing trillions of dollars and capturing all of the interest.” At current rates, Hougan projects that if Tether can reach $3 trillion in assets, its profits could surpass Saudi Aramco’s record $120 billion in 2024. “For context: In 2024, Saudi Aramco turned in the most profitable year in corporate history, earning $120 billion. At current...

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Stuart Hoegner leaves roles as Tether and Bitfinex general counsel Stuart Hoegner, the long-time general counsel of sister firms Tether and Bitfinex, appears to have left the firm. This is based on a change to his bio on X, which now reads, “Former GC @Bitfinex @Tether_to.” This ends a decade at these firms. Hoegner originally joined Bitfinex back in 2014, according to his LinkedIn account. Archives for Tether’s “About Us” page show that Hoegner was still listed as the firm’s general counsel as recently as Christmas Eve. Tether: Ten years, 100,000,000,000 USDT, and still no audit Read more: Tether’s Q3 attestations prove that it can’t quit secured loans Now the page only lists Chief Exec Paolo Ardoino, Chief Financial Officer Giancarlo Devasini, and Chief Operating Officer Claudia Lagorio.  For Bitfinex’s part, archives show that Hoegner was still listed in November but currently isn’t. Tether r...

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price hit an all-time high of $103,000 today, placing it squarely at the head of a global crypto market worth a colossal $3.88 trillion. At $2.04 trillion, the currency makes up 52.44% of crypto’s global market cap, according to Coingecko.   BTC rivals ether, XRP, and tether trail the world’s dominant crypto by some distance, representing 11.9%, 3.9%, and 3.6% of the global crypto market respectively.   At $2.04 trillion, bitcoin makes up 52.44% of crypto’s global market cap. Read more: Bitcoin has hit $100,000 and is the world’s 7th largest asset Trump claims credit for $100K bitcoin high BTC crossed the $100,000 threshold in the early hours of Thursday morning and triggered a range of celebratory posts from execs, pundits, and crypto enthusiasts.  What was a little more unexpected, however, was President Donald Trump not only celebrating the milestone but also claiming credit for it. On his social media platform Trut...

Source: Tether Tether , a leading entity in the digital asset market, has unveiled plans to introduce a new stablecoin pegged to the United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED). This initiative, announced on 21 August 2024, is set to be realised through collaboration with Phoenix Group , a prominent UAE-based tech conglomerate, and Green Acorn Investments . The Dirham-pegged stablecoin will be fully supported by UAE-based liquid reserves, aligning with Tether’s commitment to transparency and robust reserve standards. Tether to Develop UAE Dirham-Pegged Stablecoin Read more:https://t.co/dkiDAI0y15 — Tether (@Tether_to) August 21, 2024 Collaboration and Development The partnership with Phoenix Group and Green Acorn Investments aims to create a digital representation of the AED, which is expected to enhance the stability and efficiency of financial transactions in the region. The new token will complement Tether’s existing stablecoin offerings, including US...

The US Justice Department (DoJ) has indicted and arrested an heir to the Cartier jewelry empire with conspiring to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking using tether (USDT). In Miami, law enforcement arrested Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, a direct descendant of Louis Cartier, the founder of the luxury watch, necklace, and bracelet maker, where he was allegedly coordinating with a Colombian drug cartel. Alongside five Colombian nationals, Cartier tried to import 100 kilos of cocaine and launder hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly through over-the-counter (OTC) USDT trades. They actually succeeded at laundering 14.5 million USDT before their arrests. Cartier is currently in a Miami detention center while his co-conspirators are in Colombian jails. To carry out his scheme, Cartier controlled shell companies and misrepresented to financial institutions that they were in the business of software and technology. He then used the companies’ accounts, according to the indictment, as...

Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG) has object ed to the bankruptcy plan of its subsidiary Genesis Global Capital because it wants to pay back a group of controlling creditors more than required. In a motion filed on Monday, DCG has said Genesis’ bankruptcy plan is unlawful, inequitable, and violates its rights. Under bankruptcy law, payouts of digital assets are determined by price at the time the firm officially went under. Bitcoin , for example, was worth $21,000 when Genesis filed for bankruptcy on January 20, 2023. At press time, however, bitcoin has appreciated by a whopping 105%, to over $43,000. Genesis has proposed to give “hundreds of millions of dollars more” to its general unsecured creditors in order to reflect this price change. Bitcoin’s recent price gains have also caused FTX creditors to object to far lower payouts. Read more: Genesis eyeing tax benefits after blocking DCG sale According to DCG, paying extra to a small gro...

Stablecoin operator Tether again minted a trove of USDT tokens on Tron’s network, but there’s a catch: the coins aren’t yet available for swaps or transactions.  According to LookOnChain, Tether has minted $13 billion in new USDT tokens on Ethereum and Tron blockchains since October last year. The latest addition to Justin Sun’s Tron decentralized network is $1 billion in USDT. While the tokens have been minted , on-chain data showed that the USDT added to Tron on Jan. 29 has not been issued yet. This means that the massive mint was intended for future purposes, as confirmed by Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. PSA: 1B USDt inventory replenish on Tron Network. Note this is an authorized but not issued transaction, meaning that this amount will be used as inventory for next period issuance requests and chain swaps. — Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) January 29, 2024 You might also like: Aggregate stablecoin supply sees largest increase since October Ardoino’s clarification,...

Tether announced this week that it had collaborated with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and OKX to freeze approximately $225 million in USDT connected to a ‘pig-butchering’ scam. However, according to blockchain analytics firm ChainArgos, the addresses in question had until recently contained approximately $75 million more, suggesting that the operatives were able to prevent some portion of the funds from being seized.  Several days ago, one of the blocklisted addresses, 0xc7C8f8284c5360D0086a2f0A05BdD07AFdE23246, transferred around $126 million in USDT to 0x36922E39B2Be38f0271A7918Ca46be7884DED849. Interestingly, this wallet isn’t blocklisted. This address then sent the USDT to 0xCaB9a8391F765f6BEda0b5BAd434b10985BdaAd0, which is also blocklisted. It’s not clear why the intermediary address wasn’t blocklisted and Protos has reached out to Tether for clarification. 1/ Wallet balances of the 37 addresses pig-butchering related (according to Tether ...

Tether Holdings ventures into Bitcoin mining, invest ing $500 million to establish operations in Uruguay, Paraguay and El Salvador. USDT stablecoin provider Tether is venturing into Bitcoin mining, aiming to position itself as a major crypto-miner in this highly competitive field. The company will invest approximately $500 million in the next half-year, revealed Paolo Ardoino, the soon-to-be CEO. This ambitious move includes the construction of new mining facilities and acquiring stakes in existing companies. Recently, Tether extended a $610 million credit line to Northern Data AG, a Frankfurt-based Bitcoin mining firm, and even purchased significant shares in the company. This strategic investment is part of Tether’s broader plan to diversify its revenue streams beyond its primary business of managing USDT stablecoin.  You might also like: Terra creator Do Kwon denied release from forgery prison sentence Mining operations in South America As a part of this ne...

The stablecoin pool ideally has a weightage of 33.3% of each USDT, USDC and DAI, however, on June 15, the USDT weightage rose above 70% in the pool. Tether-issued USDT (USDT) stablecoin slightly deviated from its dollar peg value on June 15 due to an imbalance in the Curve 3pool. The price of USDT fell by 0.3% to around 0.997 as the USDT weightage in the curve 3pool increased to over 70% from the ideal 33.1%. Curve's 3pool is a stablecoin pool for decentralized finance that holds a massive amount of liquidity of the three top stablecoins in DeFi- USDT, USDC and DAI. A significant rise in a particular stablecoin weightage in the curve pool indicates a heavy selling of that stablecoin. USDT price depeg, Source: TradingView With USDT weightage at around 73.8%, it means traders are increasingly selling their USDT for DAI or USDC. USDT concentration in Curve 3pool exceeded over 50% last in November 2022 at the time of FTX collapse. Curve's 3 pool stablecoin weightage. Source: Cur...

According to a recently released report by CCData, total Stablecoin market cap fell by 0.45% in the past month. This means it’s fallen for 14 consecutive months and currently sits at $130 billion — its lowest level since September 2021. At the same time, stablecoin market dominance has risen to 11.1% in the overall crypto market, possibly a bearish sign for crypto. The decline in Stablecoin market cap coincides with an exit of liquidity from Crypto exchanges. Metrics by numerous sources, including the Block, confirm that May was the lowest month in terms of Crypto trading volume on exchanges since the beginning of 2022. This decline in overall liquidity is paired with a heavy decline in stablecoin trading volume, which according to CCData fell in May by 40.6% to $460 billion . This represents the lowest monthly trading volume by stablecoins on centralized exchanges since December 2022. Tether’s market cap has grown in tandem with bitcoin’s rise in price t...