According to Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer of Tether, the company has not been issuing its namesake stablecoin Tether (USDT) for over a month, following a serious decline in demand in the bitcoin futures market.
Currently, there are 64.25 billion USDT in circulation. In June, the supply did not change, Ardoino said. The digital asset still attracts clients. However, there is no reason for issuing even more stablecoins. Some 68% of the cryptocurrency belongs to Chinese investors aiming to buy bitcoin. That is the reason why USDT capitalization is closely related to BTC’s exchange rate. Overall, China’s authorities have adopted an aggressive stance on the world’s flagship cryptocurrency. Each new restriction imposed by the People’s Bank of China instantly affects the rate of bitcoin. Moreover, local investors seem to expect further regulation tightening.
In fact, other stablecoins are not an exception. New coins are hardly issued. In May, this niche of the market exceeded $100 billion for the first time. Meanwhile, it is now estimated at $106 billion, which is a very low growth indicator. Analytical service CoinShares notes an increase in withdrawals from BTC, Ethereum, and Ripple. Traders are trying to protect their assets before the upcoming London hard fork that may trigger a collapse of ETH. Market participants are also disappointed with a protracted Ripple versus the SEC lawsuit.
CoinShares emphasize an inflow of funds in Stellar and Cardano. Stellar (XLM) is a fork of Ripple that has not received a complaint from the SEC. Cardano is a serious competitor of Ethereum that can benefit from problems with the London hard fork.
