On November 6, Tether conducted a major cross-chain swap, moving over 2 billion USDT from various blockchain networks to Ethereum.
Specifically, 1 billion USDT will be swapped from Tron, 600 million from Avalanche C-Chain, 300 million from Near Protocol, and 60 million from EOS. This transfer was initiated at the request of a large exchange and does not impact the total USDT supply.
Tether CEO Clarifies USDT Reserves
The large-scale transfer of USDT across chains comes amid unconfirmed reports from The Wall Street Journal that Tether is under investigation by the U.S. government for alleged money laundering and sanctions violations.
This news triggered a market downturn as investor concerns grew. To reassure the public, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino presented a breakdown of Tether’s reserve assets at the PlanB event in Switzerland.
Tether’s reserves include roughly $100 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds, 82,000 Bitcoin valued at approximately $6.2 billion, and 48 tons of gold. In October 2024, USDT reached a market cap of $120 billion, reflecting rising demand in the digital asset market.
However, data from Chainalysis indicates that stablecoins like USDT are increasingly being used as a store of value in economies with rapidly devaluing local currencies, rather than for speculative purposes.
