Tether (USDT) could soon replace Bitcoin (BTC) as the dominant currency on public blockchains. At least that's what Ryan Watkins, a research analyst at the crypto analysis company Messari, thinks.
Watkins highlights the fact that Bitcoin's overall stable monetary base grew significantly in the first half of 2020. The stablecoin monetary base increased $ 2.4 billion in the first quarter and another $ 3.8 billion in the second quarter to a total of over $ 12 billion.
The Messari researcher points out that Tether has risen by $ 3.5 billion and is on its way to becoming the first stablecoin to move over $ 10 billion.
The dominant stablecoin is also approaching bitcoin in terms of daily transaction value.
Tether is not the only stablecoin that is making profits. Watkins says the sUSD (synthetic US dollar) has the fastest relative growth in the tied assets market.
The so-called “synths” enable traders to place market bets on Synthetix, a derivatives trading platform that is based on the Ethereum blockchain . According to Watkins, the sUSD benefited from the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) and a low base.
The research analyst also says that the total stablecoins are on the way to gross around $ 508 billion in 2020, which would be more than double the total transaction volume in 2019.
Tether and other stablecoins exploded in 2020, particularly as a result of the economic problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It can be assumed that this trend will continue in the future.
