USDT (TETHER)
Stock Chart
Business Model
Business Mode
Tether's core business is the issuance and management of the stablecoin USDT (pegged 1:1 to the US dollar), while also expanding into a diversified financial ecosystem:
Stablecoin issuance: The market capitalization of USDT has surpassed $160 billion (as of July 2025), covering over 400 million users, primarily serving the cross-border payment and dollar substitution needs in emerging markets.
Multi-chain deployment: USDT is deployed on more than 12 blockchains, with the Tron chain ($81 billion) and Ethereum ($65 billion) being dominant, while emerging public chains like Solana are experiencing significant growth.
Business expansion: Tokenization of physical assets (such as gold-backed token XAUt); acquisition of real enterprises (such as investing $600 million to acquire a controlling stake in the agricultural company Adecoagro, exploring commodity trade settlement); investment in Bitcoin mining, AI, and energy infrastructure.
Profit Model
Profit mainly relies on "interest-free liabilities + high-yield assets" arbitrage and strategic investments.
14: U.S. Treasury interest: 81.5% of reserves ($127 billion) are in short-term U.S. Treasuries, with Q1 2025 interest income of $1 billion, and the high interest rate environment strengthens the interest spread income.
Bitcoin appreciation: Holding over 100,000 BTC (current value $11.8 billion), accounting for 5.1% of reserves, unrealized gains are obtained through the price increase of BTC.
Cash flow from real business: Investments in agriculture and energy (such as Adecoagro) contribute stable income, with profits from real business exceeding $1 billion in 2024.
Fees and scale effects: A fee of 0.1% is charged for minting/redeeming USDT, with a weekly new minting volume reaching 4 billion USDT, low-cost operations amplify profit margins.
Profit Model Impact
This model directly supports the stability and institutionalization of the cryptocurrency ecosystem:
Enhancing market trust: A reserve of 127 billion US dollars (the 18th largest holder globally) reduces the de-pegging risk of USDT to less than 0.3%, becoming the cornerstone of trust for 73% of stablecoin trading volume25.
Promoting industry compliance: The GENIUS Act requires full reserves and independent audits, and Tether has committed to upgrading disclosure standards, forcing competitors (such as Circle) to simultaneously improve transparency19.
Reconstructing global payments: Serving over 400 million emerging market users (mainly in Africa and Latin America), cross-border payment costs have been reduced to 1/10 of traditional banks, mitigating the inflation risk of local currencies47.
Impact on Cryptocurrencies
USDT, as the "liquidity artery of the crypto market," deeply influences various assets through capital flow and chain support strategies.
12: Bitcoin (BTC): The issuance of USDT often accompanies an increase in BTC prices (for example, the issuance of 45 billion USDT in Q4 2024 drove BTC up by 35%), as new funds enter through the USDT/BTC trading pair.
Public chain ecology: Supporting a certain chain to issue USDT can significantly enhance its DeFi activity (for instance, after receiving support, Solana's TVL grew by 120% in three months), while the cessation of support leads to ecological shrinkage (for example, EOS chain's TVL declined by 60%).
DeFi interest rate benchmark: The lending interest rate of USDT (for example, the average of 5.2% on the Aave platform in Q2 2025) has become the industry’s risk-free yield anchor, influencing staking and leverage strategies.