Tether (USDT) USDT

Tether (USDT) is a stablecoin: a token designed to stay worth one US dollar. It is issued by the company Tether and circulates on several blockchains, which makes it a common way to hold dollars inside the crypto ecosystem, move funds between exchanges or pay across borders. Unlike Bitcoin, USDT is centralised: its value rests on the reserves and the reliability of its issuer. Our guide What are stablecoins? explains the wider category.

What is Tether?

USDT is a digital token that represents a claim on dollars and other assets held by Tether. The company says each token is backed by reserves made up of cash, cash equivalents and other assets, and it publishes circulation data and quarterly reserve information on its transparency page.

Tether is part of a group linked to the Bitfinex exchange. Paolo Ardoino has been its chief executive since October 2023, and the group moved its headquarters to El Salvador in January 2025.

How Tether works

Issuance and redemption

Verified business customers send dollars to Tether, which mints the equivalent amount of USDT and invests the money in reserve assets. When they return USDT, the tokens are destroyed and dollars are paid out. Ordinary users rarely deal with Tether directly: they buy and sell USDT on exchanges, where market makers keep the price close to one dollar.

Many blockchains, one token

USDT exists as a token on several networks, including Ethereum (ERC-20) and TRON (TRC-20), where it is widely used for transfers. Each version lives on its own chain, so you must always send USDT on the network that the receiving address supports. Because the token is issued by a company, Tether can freeze addresses: it reported more than 4.4 billion dollars in frozen tokens linked to illicit activity by April 2026.

No fixed supply

There is no cap on USDT. The supply grows when customers deposit dollars and shrinks when they redeem, so it reflects demand rather than a schedule written in code.

A short history of Tether

• July 2014: the project is announced as Realcoin by Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins and Craig Sellars.
• 6 October 2014: first tokens issued on the Bitcoin blockchain; the project is renamed Tether in November.
• February 2021: Tether and Bitfinex settle with the New York Attorney General for 18.5 million dollars, without admitting wrongdoing.
• October 2021: the US CFTC fines Tether about 41 million dollars, finding that full reserves were held on only 27.6% of days between 2016 and 2018.
• July 2022: quarterly reserve attestations by BDO Italia begin.
• September 2025: Tether announces USAT, a separate dollar token for the US market designed for the GENIUS Act framework, issued through Anchorage Digital Bank.
• August 2026: Tether says KPMG completed its first full financial audit with an unqualified opinion; the report itself has not been published.

What USDT is used for

• Trading: USDT is one of the most common quote currencies on crypto exchanges.
• Transfers and remittances: sending dollars across borders in minutes, often on low-fee networks.
• Dollar savings: in countries with high inflation, people use USDT as an accessible form of dollars.
• DeFi: as collateral or liquidity in decentralised applications.

What makes Tether different

Tether was the first stablecoin to reach mass adoption and remains available on a very large number of platforms and chains. Its main competitor, USDC, has followed a different path: Circle is authorised in the EU under MiCA, while Tether had not appeared in ESMA’s register of authorised e-money token issuers as of October 2026. Tether has instead focused on emerging markets and launched USAT for the regulated US market.

Risks and criticism

Holding USDT means trusting a private company. Past regulatory findings, the late arrival of a full audit and the presence of non-cash assets in the reserves have long fuelled criticism. A stablecoin can briefly lose its peg during market stress. Freezes protect victims of fraud but also show that USDT is not censorship-resistant.

In the European Union, the MiCA regulation requires stablecoins offered to the public to be issued by an authorised firm. Since USDT is not authorised, EU-licensed platforms may restrict it for European customers, so availability depends on where you live and which platform you use.

How to store USDT

USDT can be held on an exchange or in any wallet that supports the network you use (Ethereum, TRON and others). Check the network twice before each transfer: sending TRC-20 USDT to an address on another chain can lead to a loss. Note that moving USDT on a blockchain also requires a small amount of that chain’s native coin to pay fees. Our guide to crypto wallets helps you choose the right option.