Macauley Peterson

Monday registered an all-time market cap high for bitcoin, thanks to its near record high price, plus 27 months of fresh supply issuance since last cycle’s peak. 



But Bitcoin wasn’t the only crypto setting records.



Tether’s USDT stablecoin finally cracked its ninth zero, and is now sitting at a circulating supply of 100,044,694,548 tethers. That’s more than 3.4x the market cap of the number two stablecoin, Circle’s USDC.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tether-almost-100b-club">Tether prints $10B in 3 months, nears exclusive $100B crypto club</a>



On 24-hour volume basis, tether is nearly five times bigger than its nearest rival FDUSD, which almost exclusively greases trading liquidity on the Binance exchange, per CoinGecko’s <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories/stablecoins">stablecoin</a> rankings.



USDT still plays a large role on Binance, but its reach is vast, providing USD trading pairs on the overwhelming majority of the 200 or so centralized exchange worldwide.



In DeFi, USDC plays a much larger part, featured in the <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/exchanges/decentralized">top pairs</a> on all the top DEXes.



Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, the operation’s frontman, marked the occasion, calling it “a testament to Tether’s pivotal role in reshaping the landscape of digital finance.”



“Surpassing the $100 billion market cap is not just a numerical achievement,” he said in a statement to Blockworks. “Our success is not measured solely by market capitalization but by the trust and confidence instilled in us by our customers.”



The stablecoin continues to beguile its staunchest <a href="https://x.com/ahcastor/status/1764802213170512257?s=20">critics</a> who, <a href="https://x.com/Bitfinexed/status/1764607142307254549?s=20">mystified</a> by its failure to collapse despite numerous trials both <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-judge-orders-tether-to-prove-what-backs-usdt">literal</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/usdt-selloff-alarm-bells-tether">figurative</a>, over the years.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoin-tether-castle-island-ventures">Tether is ‘unfairly maligned,’ but will eventually fail, says Nic Carter</a>



The ultimate test of an on-chain dollar is how well it hews to its peg, and on that score USDT is solidly in the green. Tether is objectively the <a href="https://coinkickoff.com/most-and-least-stable-cryptocurrencies/">most stable</a>. 



And while it is likely to remain controversial, the market endorsement coupled with improved <a href="https://tether.to/en/transparency/#usdt">transparency</a> has helped USDT grow into only the fifth ever crypto to reach the $100 billion mark, joining bitcoin, ether, BNB and XRP, although the latter two have slipped back below for quite some time.



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Tether prints 100 billionth USDT

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_628da3bc1164c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Product is designed to offer collateralized dollar-denominated yield at a 5% rate</li>
 <li>21Shares is looking into expanding its presence in several dozen countries</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cryptocurrency exchange-traded product issuer 21Shares’ latest fund is designed to divvy up yields&nbsp; to investors amid concerns around inflation and fluctuating interest rates.&nbsp;



The 21Shares USD Yield ETP (USDY) offers collateralized dollar-denominated yield at a 5% rate, the firm told Blockworks. The product generates yield by taking in US dollars and lending them to crypto counterparties against a minimum of 110% collateral in bitcoin and ether marked-to-market daily.



USDY — an exchange-traded product (ETP) — is set to become available on the SIX Swiss exchange on Wednesday and is available to investors in US dollars, with a fee of 30 basis points.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We see this ETP as a useful tool for investors to navigate market volatility and stay invested through complex market conditions — like today’s,” 21Shares President Ophelia Snyder said. “While investors grapple with inflation, fluctuating interest rates and a range of economic pressures, this product is a first-of-its-kind way for investors to both gain maximum exposure to risk-adjusted yield and preserve liquidity in their portfolios.”&nbsp;



21Shares, which has more than $2.5 billion of assets under management, has launched a range of digital asset investment products this year, with more in the pipeline.



The Switzerland-based company earlier this month launched two <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/21shares-two-latest-crypto-funds-keying-in-on-defi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DeFi-focused ETPs</a> and more recently <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/worlds-largest-crypto-exchange-traded-product-issuer-enters-us-market/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">entered the US market</a> with two index funds offering diversified exposure to some of the space’s largest assets.



21Shares intends to launch between 20 and 30 additional ETPs by the end of this year, Snyder said.&nbsp;



The executive previously told Blockworks that 21Shares intends to establish a Middle Eastern foothold next month in Dubai. Snyder added that the company is looking at bolstering its presence in several dozen countries around the world.



“Our goal is to build bridges between the cryptocurrency and institutional investing world and increase accessibility to some of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies and blockchain ecosystems,” Snyder said.&nbsp;



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.