Ethereum
Tether Mints $1 Billion USDT on Ethereum, Predicting ETF Approval
Tether issued $1 billion USDT tokens on the Ethereum blockchain on Tuesday, capitalizing on growing hype around a potential one-time approval of the Ethereum ETF.
The market rally was driven by hopes that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve an Ethereum spot (ETH) ETF to trade this Thursday.
Whale alert first reported the strike on Tuesday, which was responded to and confirmed by Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, who wrote, “PSA: 1 billion USD inventory replenishment on the Ethereum network. Note that this is an authorized but unissued transaction, which means that this amount will be used as inventory for the next period’s issuance requests and on-chain exchanges.
This is not the first time Tether has minted tokens amid speculation about a spot ETF. Attached hit 1 billion dollars USDT tokens in January amid rumors of a spot Bitcoin ETF. The price of Ethereum (ETH) that day ranged between $2,204 and $2,294.61.
Ethereum on the rise
The value of Ethereum has increased by 15% Tuesday amid speculation, and other top-performing coins also surged. This increase is due to the higher probability of a Ethereum ETF approvedwho left from 25% to 75% after Fidelity has updated its records. The current price of Ethereum is $3,726.78.
Some believe this most recent minting is a preemptive move for the SEC’s approval of a spot Ethereum ETF. Ivan Sherbakov, CEO of Cryptorobotics, replied at the mint, speculating that the tokens “will be used as liquidity to pump the market ahead of the ETF news.”
Tether Use Cases
This increase in USDT tokens indicates that more funds will be invested in crypto, especially ETH and Ethereum coins. These tokens are held in Tether Treasury as “authorized but not issued”. According to Tether transparency pageThere were $87.8 million worth of such USDT on Ethereum as of May 20.
This move comes as Deutsche Bank analysts highlight Tether’s lack of transparency. They warn of potentially serious consequences if the USDT stablecoin collapses, given its dominant position in the stablecoin market, which currently exceeds $160 billion in total capitalization. Tether’s market capitalization exceeds $111 billion, controlling approximately 70% of the stablecoin market.