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Tether’s USDT, worth over $155 billion, has commanded a near-monopoly over the stablecoin market for nearly a decade. Earning $13 billion in profit last year, the most transaction volume of any crypto asset — including BTC itself — and benefiting from its asset manager joining the presidential cabinet of Donald Trump, many people doubted any stablecoin could ever compete. However, for the first time in history, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer is reckoning with serious competition in the form of Circle. Circle has advanced its USDC remarkably this year, and Protos has compiled data on three metrics by which it has gained ground against Tether. For the first time in history, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer is reckoning with serious competition. Although Tether remains the market leader and retains a dominant share of tokens outstanding, search queries, and trading volume, Circle’s growth rates highlight some areas in which it is gaining ground....

Stablecoin issuer Circle will finalize pricing for its IPO shares one hour after the 4pm close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today. That price will provide a formal benchmark with which to value the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, Tether. Already boosted 10% due to investor interest over the weekend and reportedly 25 times oversubscribed as of this morning, shares of Circle will trade under ticker symbol CRCL. Based on early morning estimates, shares will price at least $27-28 apiece at a valuation in excess of $7.2 billion. That estimated range could increase substantially at today’s 5pm pricing. Early access to the IPO is skewing toward Main Street investors, with retail-focused brokerages Robinhood and Webull offering IPO Access. IPO Access allows traders to request shares of a new public company at the IPO price before it lists to the general public on the NYSE. IPO Access allocates brokerages’ limited number of IPO shares base...

In the latest turn of events, XRP has become the third-largest cryptocurrency after flipping Tether (USDT) by market cap. XRP’s market cap touched $151.3 billion on Wednesday, and Tether’s market cap is currently at $150.3 billion. The Ripple’s native token is now ahead of $1 billion in market cap after rising 22% in a week. It is also among the most sought-after cryptocurrencies in the market due to its recent price run. Also Read: Global Financial Authority IIF Endorses XRP as Swift Alternative for Payments Source: Coingecko The 24-hour trading volume has also reached a whopping $4.7 billion, making its price surge 3.5%. The leading altcoin has sustainably scaled up in the charts, delivering stellar profits to investors in a year. Traders who took an entry position in the altcoin in Q1 of 2024 have made more than 410% in profits. XRP is now larger than stablecoin Tether (USDT) after receiving an influx of funds from investors due to its scalability. Also Read: Ripple...

Circle wants to IPO, and its S1 filing details the staggering difference between the regulated, US-based stablecoin issuer and its offshore competitor, Tether. Despite their relatively similar sizes, the financials of the world’s two largest stablecoin issuers are miles apart. As of December 31, 2024, there were 137.4 billion circulating USDT and 43.9 billion circulating USDC. Despite USDC’s market capitalization being approximately one-third of USDT, their profitability diverges massively. Specifically, Tether reported a gross profit of  $13 billion that year , while Circle reported just $156 million in net income.  Specifically, Tether reported a gross profit of $13 billion that year, while Circle reported just $156 million in net income. In percentage terms, the market capitalization of USDT was just 213% bigger than USDC, yet its profit was roughly 8,000% bigger . It certainly begs the question of how Tether achieved its extraordinary gains. How come @circle h...

The chief executive of the world’s largest stablecoin issuer is reportedly looking to receive an audit from one of the biggest accounting firms in the world. According to a new report by Reuters, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says the company is in talks with one of the Big Four accounting firms – KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC – to receive an audit of its reserves, though no specific group was named. Tether says it holds dollar-denominated reserves for each USDT token it creates and an audit would help improve the transparency of said reserves, which are currently subject to quarterly reports rather than full-on audits. Ardoino told Reuters that getting a full audit is a “top priority” for Tether, a task he says will be easier to achieve under President Donald Trump, who recently signed an executive order to establish a crypto strategic reserve. “It’s our top priority. Now we are living in a landscape where it’s actually feasible… If...

Wow, what a week’s it’s been in crypto: Tether’s CEO says they’re not launching a blockchain, the State of Michigan holds over $10 million in spot Ethereum ETFs, the launch of the Global Dollar stablecoin, Bitcoin reaches a new all-time high of over $77,000, and BlackRock’s IBIT sets record daily inflows of $1.12 billion. Let’s take a closer look at these and give you a recap on what happened this week in crypto. Tether isn’t launching a blockchain Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said that they’re not launching a Tether chain at the moment because “neutrality is very important to them.” Posting on X, Ardoino said that “different independent L2 solutions are working to support $USDt for gas fees.” Rather than trying to centralize everything, he mentioned that Tether is interested in teaming up with companies and communities. His announcement comes as Tether experienced a record-breaking miles...

Two major Russia n companies are using Tether (USDT) and other cryptocurrencies to settle cross-border transactions in China as sanctions tighten, Bloomberg reports. Executives from two top commodities trading firms producing metal in Russia told Bloomberg, on the condition of anonymity, that USDT is used in some of these transactions when dealing with mostly Chinese clients and suppliers. Sanctions imposed on Russia following the Ukraine war have made it harder for commodities firms, such as those trading steel and timber, to receive payments. In April 2024 the London Metal Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange were banned from accepting metal exports from Russia following UK and US sanctions.   CEO of stablecoin infrastructure firm Reslov Labs, Ivan Kozlov, told Bloomberg, “In countries that are facing dollar liquidity issues and capital controls, cross-border settlements through cryptocurrencies and, specifically, dollar-linked stablecoins, are a relatively commo...

Tether has recently challenged comments made by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinhouse regarding the US government” going after” USDT. Indeed, during an appearance on The World Class podcast, Garlingohuse said, “The US government is going after Tehter, that is clear to me.” Thereafter, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino took to X (formerly Twitter) to challenge those remarks. Specifically, Ardoino alleged that Garlinhouse was perpetuating “fear about USDT” with ulterior motives. He made note of Ripple ’s impending Stableoin offering, which is set to compete with USDT when it launches this July. Source: Bloomberg Also Read: Ripple Analyst Says XRP Closing Above This Level Is Bullish: Can It Hit $1 In May? Tether CEO Defends USDT From Ripple CEO FUD Over the last several years, the didgitla asset market has been forced to contend with unclear regulation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The agency’s regulation-by-enforcement ap...

After nearly a decade of promising financial and security audits for users and critics to look over, Tether has once again failed to put its money where its mouth is, instead choosing to announce a complete change of its business model. The rebrand is in line with many of the statements the company has been making over the past several years, around plans to get into the bitcoin mining business, the data industry, and blockchain education. The news comes on the back of new reporting from the Wall Street Journal that Tether has been extremely useful for Russia in its bid to acquire weapons to defeat Ukraine and numerous damning statements from Janet Yellen regarding stablecoins. Since US regulators and politicians started to pay closer attention to stablecoins, Tether has taken to calling itself ‘the largest company in the digital asset industry’ instead of the ‘largest stablecoin,’ and is clearly trying to put a positive spin on the work that it does. Tet...

Redditors appear to have an enthusiastic view toward crypto currencies, as 84% of discussions in 2023 were positive . According to CoinWire, which analyzed over 20,400 posts on Reddit over the last 12 months, the majority of discussions on the platform “were full of positivity,” suggesting investors are anticipating a rally in the foreseeable future. As noted by the firm, enthusiastic community members are “embracing cryptocurrencies, and this vibrant online platform reveals their upbeat outlook.” However, the same cannot be said for X, where out of 19,470 crypto-related tweets, only 65% conveyed a positive sentiment. “But that’s not all; the United Kingdom takes the lead in this global cheer, with more than 72% of crypto-related tweets from this region being positive.” CoinWire You might also like: Bitfinex expects crypto market cap to double in 2024 The most optimistic discussions on social media were centered around stablec...

Binance listed ‘ stablecoin ’ Anchored Coins EUR (AEUR) with a zero trading fee promotion on Monday, which pumped nearly 200% before the Crypto exchange halted trades the next day due to “abnormal volatility.” Swiss-based Anchored Coins claims that its AEUR stablecoin is pegged to the euro. Upon launch, it traded around $1.08 as intended until 17:45 UTC — when high volumes raised the price up to $3.25, CoinDesk reports. According to Binance’s site, AEUR had crept down to $1.71 when the stablecoin was pulled. It lists the stablecoin’s market cap at $13.99 million at press time, with a 24 hour volume of $34.61 million and $5 million in circulation. CoinDesk noted that the last trade was made for $2.89, or 167% beyond the price of the euro. Binance halts trading on euro stablecoin $AEUR after it pumped 170% pic.twitter.com/uHgxBgSLQM — db (@neuralinkdb) December 5, 2023 Read more: Moody’s reports 600 stablecoin depegs in 2023 Anch...

PayPal has finally launched its oft-delayed stablecoin in partnership with Paxos. The token was delayed amid increasing regulatory scrutiny around Binance USD, another Paxos stablecoin. The launch of the coin has led some Twitter users to highlight that it boasts functions that would allow the company to freeze assets and wipe value from addresses. Other stablecoins do use different names for these functions. Tether, for example, relies on a blacklist, which on Ethereum makes use of the addBlackList function. This prevents the token from being transferred. The function that destroys assets in an address is called destroyBlackFunds. Tether uses this function regularly, including in cases where it believes someone has been the victim of a scam. Indeed, it recently froze the proceeds of a phishing scam . Historically, Tether once forced a hard fork of Bitcoin’s Omni layer in order to add the ability to freeze tokens after it was hacked. Tether still fails to accurately account...

Welcome to the 127th Weekend Shift! What’s the deal? Over the weekend, we’ll update this post with some of the most interesting articles, podcasts, charts, and opinion pieces we’re too busy to write about. OK, only crypto? Not necessarily. We do that Monday to Friday, so we try to explore new subjects on weekends. Feel free to join in and submit entries on Twitter. Any topic is fair game. 11 mins ago The Context: No, SBF didn’t get away with it Some still believe that SBF’s political donations make him untouchable. Multiple indictments say otherwise. Latest from @BennettTomlin Subscribe and read https://t.co/yMhdJCDrhf pic.twitter.com/pNAImK9xaJ — Protos (@Protos) July 14, 2023 11 mins ago And is there any news from Mr Andre Cronje, the CEO of Fantom and co-founder of Multichain? His last tweet was posted on July 5, just 2 days prior to the ~$130 million hack on Multichain. https://t.co/fAiWbxBEVz pic.twitter.com/IW6tRpFIfD — Julien Bouteloup (@bnei...

Welcome to the 123rd Weekend Shift! What’s the deal? Over the weekend, we’ll update this post with some of the most interesting articles, podcasts, charts, and opinion pieces we’re too busy to write about. OK, only Crypto ? Not necessarily. We do that Monday to Friday, so we try to explore new subjects on weekends. Feel free to join in and submit entries on Twitter. Any topic is fair game. 43 mins ago The Context: ️ Prometheum's pointless blockchain and ATS Prometheum is the “SEC regulated” Crypto currency trading system, and it is entirely pointless. Latest from @BennettTomlin Subscribe & read https://t.co/FGU4vAmIEz pic.twitter.com/WRRGFUpcnc — Protos (@Protos) June 16, 2023 Starting off with the latest issue of the Context by Bennett Tomlin 42 mins ago Here’s what new Tether documents reveal about its reserves https://t.co/eQTqfOzKhp — Protos (@Protos) June 16, 2023 The biggest story this week dropped on Friday. 42 mins ago Banq all...