Tether's market share grew by 21 points in 2023, now captures two-thirds of stablecoin supply

Quick Take

  • Tether’s USDT tokens now represent over 70% of all stablecoins in circulation after seeing significant growth compared to competitors in 2023.

Crypto's most valuable company is only getting bigger. Tether, the company that issues the USDT stablecoin, saw its share of the global stablecoin supply grow from 50% to 71% over the course of 2023, according to data from The Block. 

Furthermore, the company recently surpassed 95 billion stablecoins in circulation, a sum larger than the GDP of countries like Guatemala and Bulgaria. Its biggest current rival, Circle's USD Coin (USDC), has merely 27 billion tokens in circulation, after starting 2023 with over 48 billion. 

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Tether recently faced a change in leadership, with longtime CTO Paolo Ardoino taking over the reins in December from former CEO Jean-Louis van der Velde, who has been described as "secretive." Ardoino has been making efforts to cozy up to law enforcement and regulators in recent months by freezing USDT held in wallets sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) and by "onboarding" law enforcement agencies onto the platform. 

Correction: The circulating supply of USDT has been corrected to reflect 95 billion tokens.


Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Zack Abrams is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. Before coming to The Block, he was the Head Writer at Coinage, a Web3 media outlet covering the biggest stories in Web3. The story he co-reported on Do Kwon won a 2022 Best in Business Journalism award from SABEW. Other projects included a deep dive into SBF's defense based on exclusive documents and unveiling the identity of the hacker behind one of 2023's biggest crypto hacks — so far. He can be reached via X @zackdabrams or email, [email protected].