By
Temitope Olatunji
April 19th, 2024
Tether continues to dominate the stablecoin market with a market cap of over $82 billion and is currently the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
On Wednesday, May 10, stablecoin issuer Tether released the results for the first quarter of the year (Q1 2023) announcing a net profit of a staggering $1.48 billion, double from $700 million in the same period last year. Interestingly, Tether also reported that the circulation of USDT jumped by 20 percent.
Tether in Q1 2023
As we know, Tether benefitted from the concerns surrounding the de-pegging of Circle’s USDC stablecoin. Besides, the drop in BUSD circulation also benefitted Tether’s USDT.
As per the consolidated results report for Q1 2023, Tether’s total assets by the end of March 23 stood at $81.8 billion, with the majority of those being the US Treasury Bills. Interestingly, the stablecoin issuer holds a large quantity of gold and Bitcoin on its balance sheet. This is for the first time that Tether disclosed its Bitcoin and gold holdings.
Tether has a total of $3.4 billion worth of gold in its reserves as well as a total of $1.5 billion in Bitcoins. Gold and Bitcoins constitute 4 percent and 2 percent of its total reserves. The company’s reserves are currently at an all-time high of $2.44 billion. Speaking of the development, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino added:
“Our net profits for the quarter were $1.48B, a testament to the strength and stability of our platform. We continue to monitor the risk-adjusted return on all assets within our portfolio on an ongoing basis and expect to make further changes as the overall economic environment changes and the market cycle progresses as a part of our normal, ongoing risk management processes. Tether continues to evaluate the global economic environment and has taken necessary steps to ensure that its customers’ funds are not exposed to high-risk scenarios.”
Tether Dominates the Stablecoin Market
Tether continues to dominate the stablecoin market with a market cap of over $82 billion and is currently the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Interestingly, apart from the USD, Tether also issues stablecoins pegged to other currencies and Gold. However, their market share is quite minuscule in comparison to USDT.
Besides, Tether also continues to increase the USDT in circulation every time. During the three-month period between January to March, Tether held a total of $2.44 billion in excess reserves. Ardoino added:
“Looking ahead to Q2, we have an extremely positive outlook and remain committed to transparency, which is why we have introduced new categories in the reserves’ breakdown in our quarterly report to provide even greater transparency to our users.”
With more disclosures in the latest results, Tether seems to bring more transparency to the assets held.