Tether’s dollar‑pegged stablecoin USDT reached a record market capitalization of $187.3 billion in Q4 2025, according to the company’s quarterly report. That represents a $12.4 billion increase during the quarter, expanding Tether’s lead while several rivals saw their supplies shrink amid the market drawdown following October’s liquidation cascade.
After the Oct. 10 liquidation event, Circle’s USDC—the second‑largest stablecoin—finished Q4 broadly flat despite intraquarter turbulence. Ethena’s synthetic dollar USDe, ranked third on CoinMarketCap, suffered a sharp drop of roughly 57% in the same period.
Onchain activity for USDT hit new highs. Average monthly active USDT wallets rose to about 24.8 million, roughly 70% of all wallets holding stablecoins. Quarterly onchain transfer volume jumped to $4.4 trillion, with total onchain transfers reaching 2.2 billion.
Tether reported total reserves of $192.9 billion at the end of the quarter, an $11.7 billion increase quarter‑over‑quarter, leaving net equity of $6.3 billion. Its holdings of U.S. Treasurys climbed to $141.6 billion, placing Tether among the largest holders of Treasurys globally and ahead of several sovereign entities.
Roughly two‑thirds of USDT’s supply is held in savings wallets and on centralized exchanges; the remaining one‑third is used for payments, remittances and decentralized finance activity.
USDT remains the most used stablecoin in illicit transfers. Bitrace reported that about $649 billion in stablecoins—approximately 5.14% of total stablecoin transaction volume—flowed through high‑risk blockchain addresses in 2024, and Tron‑based USDT accounted for more than 70% of that activity. Tether says it has stepped up efforts to curb misuse, working with partners such as TRM Labs and Tron to improve monitoring and freeze illicit funds.
In January, Tether introduced USAt, a dollar‑pegged stablecoin aimed at the U.S. market, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank with an initial supply of $10 million on Ethereum and structured to align with the proposed GENIUS Act. Tether also announced a partnership with Opera to add USDT and Tether Gold (XAUT) to Opera’s MiniPay wallet to broaden digital payment access in emerging markets.
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