Sitting Aside: Record-Breaking 6 Billion Tether (USDT) In Circulation Following Major Bitcoin Price Volatility in March

The number of circulating Tether (USDT) coins now exceeds 6 billion. Tether, and most stablecoins, have been continuously minting new coins to cope with the growing traders’ demand in times of high volatility and uncertainty in the cryptocurrency market.

Over 6B USDT In Circulation

The past month was especially turbulent in terms of volatility, to say the least. Most cryptocurrencies were on the downhill, mainly due to the violent price actions in mid-March. The market tanked by as much as 50% in less than 24 hours, pressured by external events largely related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

In such unpredictable times, most traders turned to the least volatile assets in the cryptocurrency field – stablecoins.

Consequently, this led to serious shifts in terms of market capitalizations. While Bitcoin and most altcoins were declining, the market cap of stablecoins skyrocketed. Tether, for example, climbed to 4th place in the top 100 coins and is still standing strong.

The trading volumes on most exchanges remained high throughout the whole month. To cope with the demand, Tether continued minting significant amounts.

According to data from a CoinMarketCap, the circulating supply of USDT at the time of this writing is above 6.2B. Just for reference, only two weeks ago, there were 5.3B USDT in circulation. This represents a 15% growth since March 17th.

It’s also worth noting that there has been a massive spike in the market capitalization from March 31st to April 1st as it increased by almost 1.5 billion USDT.

Stablecoins’ Growing Role

Another proof of their importance in the cryptocurrency market came in late January 2020. As Cryptopotato reported then, ETH was no longer carrying the most substantial transfer value on the Ethereum network. USDT, USDC, PAX, DAI, TUSD, and GUSD surpassed it, but Tether, again, prevailed with the most significant portion.

According to Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), stablecoins are still the pathway to mass adoption, since most people continue to “think in fiat base.”

The giant American multinational investment bank, JP Morgan, also seems to concur with the growing need and use cases for stablecoins. A recent document on the matter claimed that they have the potential “to grow substantially in global transactional activity despite challenges inherent in the microstructure of operating such a payment system.”