Tether (USDT)

Our assessment

Tether is the largest stablecoin in existence with $183bn circulating across 130 chains, trading at 0.9994 — six hundredths of a percent from parity — at this check. It is the dollar rail for most of the crypto market outside the United States.

Scale is a property, not just a number

USDT is the quote asset for most trading pairs on most exchanges, the settlement asset for cross-border flows across Asia, Africa and Latin America, and the default dollar on chains with cheap transfers. That entrenchment means liquidity is available everywhere at all hours — a practical safety property that no newer stablecoin can match regardless of its reserve quality.

Attestations, not audits

Tether publishes quarterly attestations of its reserves by an accounting firm. An attestation confirms holdings at a point in time; a full audit examines controls, valuation and completeness on an ongoing basis. Tether has never published the latter, and this remains the central criticism of it — a criticism it has now carried, without a break in the peg, for many years.

The peg has held through everything

Multiple market crises, exchange failures, regulatory actions and coordinated short attacks have not broken it. The 2021 CFTC settlement over reserve disclosures is part of the record. Judged on outcomes rather than on disclosure quality, its track record is the longest and least broken in the sector.

Who it suits

USDT fits anyone who needs the deepest dollar liquidity, especially outside the US and on non-Ethereum chains. Users who prioritise audited, regulated reserves should hold USDC, PYUSD or RLUSD.