Tether Limited has opened the money tap this week, the company behind the stablecoin yesterday released more than 1.5 billion USDT on the market. That many tethers have never been added in one day. Right now there’s over $6 billion worth of USDT on the market.

Tether is a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency with a value linked to the US dollar. The stablecoin is very popular, in the last 24 hours 39 billion dollars has been traded in tether, according to data of CoinMarketCap.

Connection between number of Tether (USDT) and bitcoin rate

There is a striking connection between the number of USDT in circulation (red line) and the rate of bitcoin (green line). On the chart below you can clearly see this connection.

In October 2018 the number of USDT fell sharply, a month later the bitcoin rate also followed.

Last year it was the first bitcoin that gained in value. Tether Limited quickly followed by printing more USDT. In this case USDT lagged behind the bitcoin rate.

But in the beginning of 2020 it was again Tether Limited who took the first step. On 6 January the company brought half a billion USDT on the market. That same day the bitcoin price increased by more than 15 percent. One month later the magic limit of 10,000 dollars was broken.

Is USDT pulling the market up?

It is clear that there is a connection, but it is difficult to say if it is a causal connection. Sometimes bitcoin moves first, then it’s USDT again. But it is striking that Tether Limited suddenly prints 1.5 billion USDT. Never before has so much USDT been printed in one day.