New statistics have come out on Tether’s on-chain activity. It points towards a stablecoin concentrated in a few addresses that nonetheless remains popular albeit controversial.

Tether (USDT) remains one of the most controversial cryptocurrencies in the entire industry. As BeInCrypto has previously reported, the project is now facing a record $1.4T lawsuit for manipulating Bitcoin markets in 2017. It has also been linked to the notorious Paradise Papers, which showed that Bitfinex and Tether are essentially the same.

Despite these controversies, Tether has remained resilient and its dominance over the industry has only grown in 2019.

On-Chain Stats

Despite the widespread skepticism towards Tether, it’s on-chain stats continue to shine.

As IntoTheBlock reports, the volume of transactions over $100,000 was, in total, $3.52B for just the last 7 days. The average time USDT is held is 21.2 days, which may be an indicator that many in the cryptocurrency market are still sitting on the sidelines with their USDT.

However, on-chain metrics also show a tendency towards the centralization of control of the total circulating supply. 119 addresses currently control 64% of the entire circulating supply of USDT. If we take 64% of the current circulating supply and divide it by 119 addresses, that would mean that 22M USDT is the average amount held by these top addresses.

The fact that 119 addresses are hoarding at an average of 22M USDT is strange. Who is entrusting so much of their wealth with Tether? The question remains a mystery.

Tether’s Dominance Continues

Despite persistent controversies and lawsuits, Tether’s dominance has not abated in 2019 but has actually grown stronger.

On-chain statistics clearly demonstrate that USDT is still the stablecoin-of-choice for most of the market. As of now, USDT total trading volume is $19.6B which is higher than Bitcoin’s. As BeInCrypto reported in August, Tether now commonly boasts higher trading volume than Bitcoin. This has become the “new normal.”

Tether has effectively monopolized the stablecoin industry through a concerted effort that involved exchanges, minting billions of USDT, and migrating its tokens to other blockchains like TRON or Ethereum. In effect, Tether has cemented such a strong place in the market that it has become near-impossible to topple.

The second-largest stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), has been rising in 2019 but still pales in comparison to Tether. USDC currently boasts a market capitalization of $477M whereas USDT has a market capitalization of $4.1B. Yesterday, BeInCrypto reported that $2.8M of fresh USDC was minted.

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