Tether Plans to Return to the U.S. Market in Q4
The company held more than $127 billion in U.S. Treasury bills as backing for its global stablecoin USDT and expects to return to the U.S. market in the fourth quarter, CEO Paolo Ardoino said.
The new stablecoin project will be designed for the mature and “highly efficient” U.S. market, Ardoino added.
The company’s plan to issue a separate U.S.-focused stablecoin in addition to USDT is part of an effort to comply with the new stablecoin law, the GENIUS Act.
The law requires 100% backing by Treasury bills or their equivalents, and the issuer must be located in the U.S.
However, the planned offering could have yields and be aimed primarily at institutional investors and players. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Ardoino explained that Tether’s popular USDT offering is based on a completely different model than the new venture. It’s aimed at “underperforming” emerging markets where users are looking for faster routes to USD and a hedge against local currency devaluation and inflation.
As a result, Tether pockets all the interest earned on the treasury reserves that back USDT. However, that may not be the case with the upcoming project.
Meanwhile, USDT’s market cap has hit an all-time high of $163.6 billion. That’s helped Tether maintain a $100 billion advantage over the second-largest stablecoin, USDC, which had a market size of $64 billion.
