Tether Mints 3B USDT in a Week: Where Did It Go?

Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reports that Tether has minted a massive 3 billion USDT in just one week. The distribution of these newly minted stablecoins across major exchanges has fueled speculation about their impact on the crypto market.

Lookonchain detailed the flow of these USDT tokens using a visual diagram on X (formerly Twitter), highlighting how a significant portion was sent to exchanges like Kraken, OKX, Coinbase, and Binance through Cumberland, a prominent crypto trading firm.

Tether(@Tether_to) minted 3B $USDT in just 1 week!

Where did these $USDT flow to?

On-chain data shows that 3.22B $USDT has flowed from #TetherTreasury to exchanges since Aug 5.

Of these, 1.75B $USDT flowed into #Kraken, #OKX, #Coinbase, #Binance, and https://t.co/pkH43dUMEz… pic.twitter.com/QZurcSxfxg

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 21, 2024

According to Lookonchain’s illustration, Tether sent 1.75 billion of the newly minted USDT to Kraken, OKX, Coinbase, Binance, and Bullish.com via Cumberland, a well-established crypto trading firm. Tether also sent another 1.29 billion USDT to Kraken through a deposit address “TQef1.”

Typically, Tether mints new tokens to maintain adequate supply for effective liquidity management. So, minting this large volume of tokens over a short period suggests a move to restock inventory in anticipation of increased demand. Further on-chain data indicates Tether’s recent move aligns with rising USDT demand on Tron, where supply has been low. On Monday, August 19, Tether’s transparency page showed only $36 million USDT tokens on Tron, all authorized but not issued.

Historically, crypto traders have noticed that increasing USDT supply often precedes bullish rallies in the cryptocurrency market, especially for Bitcoin. Well-known crypto analyst Ali Martinez has even described Tether as the Federal Reserve of crypto. In an X post, Martinez observed that the crypto market tends to rise whenever the stablecoin company mints new USDT.

More crypto users agree with Martinez’s opinion on the potential impact of the newly minted stablecoins on the crypto market. A few respondents to Lookonchain’s post suspected an upcoming crypto-buying season from whales and asked which crypto will pump soon.

A respondent to Martinez’s post predicted another leg up in the crypto market this fall, with volatility on the way. However, he believes that would be the extent of the bull cycle, considering Bitcoin reached an early all-time high in March.

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