Tether minted on Tuesday $1 billion USDT tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, capitalizing on growing hype around a potential spot Ethereum ETF approval.
The market upswing was driven by hopes that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve a spot Ethereum (ETH) ETF for trading this Thursday.
Whale Alert first reported the minting on Tuesday, which was replied to and confirmed by Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, who wrote, “PSA: 1B USDt inventory replenish on Ethereum Network. Note this is an authorized but not issued transaction, meaning that this amount will be used as inventory for next period issuance requests and chain swaps.”
This is not the first time Tether has minted tokens amid speculation of a spot ETF. Tether minted $1 billion USDT tokens in January during rumors of a spot Bitcoin ETF. The price of Ethereum (ETH) on that day ranged from $2,204 to $2,294.61.
Ethereum surging
Ethereum’s value has risen by 15% on Tuesday amid speculation, and other top-performing coins have also surged. This increase is due to the higher likelihood of an Ethereum ETF approval, which went from 25% to 75% after Fidelity updated its filings. The current price of Ethereum is $3,726.78.
Some think this most recent minting is a preemptive move for an SEC approval of a spot Ethereum ETF. Ivan Sherbakov, CEO of Cryptorobotics, replied to the minting, speculating that the tokens “will be used as liquidity to pump the market ahead of ETF news.”
Use cases for Tether
This increase in USDT tokens indicates that more funds will flow into crypto, especially into ETH and Ethereum coins. These tokens are held in Tether’s treasury as “authorized but not issued.” According to Tether’s Transparency page, there was $87.8 million worth of such USDT on Ethereum as of May 20.
This movement comes as Deutsche Bank analysts highlight Tether’s lack of transparency. They warn of the potentially severe consequences if the USDT stablecoin collapses, given its dominant position in the stablecoin market, which currently exceeds $160 billion in total capitalization. Tether’s market cap surpasses $111 billion, controlling around 70% of the stablecoin market.
