Over the past month, Tether, a prominent stablecoin issuer, has engaged in robust minting activities, creating 4 billion USDT, representing nearly 18% of the total USDT issued in 2023. The latest surge in USDT production includes 1 billion tokens on the Tron blockchain on Nov. 10, as reported by blockchain data provider Whale Alert. This follows the issuance of 1 billion USDT on Ethereum on Nov. 9 and 2 billion USDT in two separate batches on the Tron blockchain on Nov. 3 and Oct. 19.
Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s Chief Technology Officer and new CEO, responded to Whale Alert data on X (formerly Twitter), explaining that the recent 1 billion USDT transaction on the Tron network was an “authorized but not issued” transaction. He clarified that this amount would serve as inventory for future issuance requests and chain swaps.
This recent wave of USDT issuance constitutes a substantial portion of the total for the year. According to Whale Alert data, Tether is expected to have minted 22.75 billion USDT in 2023, with 57% issued on the Tron blockchain and the remaining 43% on the Ethereum blockchain.
Tether has been actively minting new USDT stablecoins throughout the year. Notably, in March 2023, the company minted a substantial 9 billion USDT, along with 3 billion in the previous month. Tether has also burned some of its coins, with significant burns on the Tron blockchain on Aug. 22 and in June.
The cryptocurrency community has reacted swiftly to these recent minting transactions, with one observer recalling the market impact of a similar event in the past. The poster highlighted the coincidental printing of a significant amount of Tether and the subsequent bank implosions in March 2023, including banks like Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Signature Bank.
In response to these developments, Tether has denied allegations of exposure to the aforementioned banks and continues to actively participate in the crypto market. Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, announced the integration of five new projects in 2024, suggesting potential disruptions to popular Web2 centralized services.
