On Monday, the total market capitalization of all stablecoins topped $150 billion. The largest stablecoin is remains Tether’s USDT. However, according to a new analysis, stablecoin whales control 80% of the tether supply.
Stablecoins Whales Control USDT Supply
With a current market capitalization of $77.9 billion, data from onchain researchers at Santiment shows that tether addresses valued at $1 million possess more than 80% of the whole supply.
The U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin has risen tremendously in recent years, with 77.9 billion tether (USDT) in circulation today, according to current data. Tether is the most popular stablecoin in terms of market capitalization among all the stablecoins.
As reported in a blog post by researchers Kyle Waters and Nate Maddrey at Coin Metrics, analyzing recent on-chain trends in stablecoin activity, the total market cap of all stablecoin taken together surpassed the $150 billion mark on Monday.
Total value settled with stablecoins by year. Source: Coinmetrics
The $77.9 billion market value of USDT represents 3.79 percent of the $2 trillion crypto industry. Furthermore, according to current data from Santiment, USDT’s concentration of larger investors worth $1 owns more than 80% of the total supply.
Santiment’s data shows that $1 million USDT addresses control 80.13% of the total 77,922,851,073 tether supply in circulation. According to Into the Block, the current concentration of large tether (USDT) holders is 46%.
Santiment’s tether metrics on February 8, 2022.
Coincarp.com’s Ethereum-based USDT wealthy list reveals that there are 4.4 million ETH addresses owning tether. The top ten USDT holders own 28.4% of all ERC20 tethers in circulation, while the top 100 control 47.71%.
Related article | As Ethereum Embraces Tether’s USDT, ETH’s Value is Threatened
Whales Generally Hold Large Stablecoin Supply
While Santiment’s USDT data shows that USDT addresses worth $1 million hold 80.13% of the stablecoin’s supply, USDC statistics show that USDC addresses worth $1 million command 86.8 percent of the stablecoin’s supply.
Today, there are approximately 51,570,858,520 USDC-pegged tokens in circulation. The concentration of significant USDC holders in the Block is likewise larger than that of USDT, at 63%.
The USDC wealthy list stats from Coincarp.com illustrate the concentration of holders using USDC on the Ethereum network. There are currently 1.35 million ETH addresses owning USDC, with the top ten addresses commanding 38.11% of the circulating supply.
USDT Market dominance. Source: TradingView
In comparison to USDT on Ethereum, the median transfer size on the top smart contracts platform is over $1,600, with less than 10% of transfers being less than $100. The majority of USDT transfers on Ethereum are in the $1,000 to $10,000 range, with hardly 1% exceeding $1 million in value.
Related article | Sun Has Arrived: Tron’s Tether Has Issued 30 Billion USDT
Featured image from Shutterstock, Charts from TradingView.com, Santiment, and Coinmetrics
