It’s been a busy week for Tether as the company announced it has cleared another billion mint USDT tokens, bringing the total number of tokens minted to $33 billion last year. According to blockchain data, additional tokens were minted on the Tron network and immediately transferred to the company’s treasury wallet.
Whale Alert also confirmed the last transaction last Tuesday at around 20:43 (UTC). The company’s recent restock order has sparked speculation about rising demand and potential price increases.
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) October 29, 2024
Tether CEO confirms up-to-date mint, saying it is ‘authorized but not issued’
This was confirmed by Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether mint orderclaiming the transaction was “authorized but not completed.” In blockchain parlance, newly minted USDT tokens on the Tron network are not yet in circulation, but are still part of the company’s inventory. In tiny, they are simply in stock, ready for the next batch of chain replacements and release requests.
The company officially announced the minting order on its website transparency page. Newly minted tokens worth a total of $1.05 billion are listed in the “authorized but unissued” USDT column.
USDT: Tron issuance reaches $20 billion
Tether is experiencing a surge in demand, which is reflected in the number of tokens minted on the Tron network in the past year. To date, as of October 29, the Tron network has minted tokens worth $20 billion. The Tron network holds a special place in the USDT ecosystem, accounting for over half of all USDT tokens in circulation.
According to the latest available data, there are as many as 120 billion Tether tokens in circulation; over 51% and approximately 61.7 billion are stored on the Tron network. Ethereum makes up the second largest USDT reserve, accounting for approximately 45% of the $55 billion. Overall, Tether continues to lead as a stablecoin issuer with a share of over 67% of the total stablecoins in circulation.
What’s next for Tether?
The latest mint order has raised questions about the future of Tether’s USDT tokens. One assumption is that the recent rise in the price of bitcoin has caused the raise stablecoins. “When they are printed, we will go higher,” one user wrote on social media, referring to minting up-to-date tokens to meet future issuance requests.
Traditionally, the minting and implementation of stablecoins signals growing demand for cryptocurrencies in a bullish market. An raise in the supply of stablecoins often causes an raise in the market prices of cryptocurrencies. For example, when Tether introduced $3 billion worth of USDT tokens in August, Bitcoin’s price stabilized after falling below the $50,000 level.
Featured image from Tether.io, chart from TradingView
