The market capitalization of Tether (USDT) surpassed $12 billion as of Aug. 14, according to cryptocurrency market analytics firm Coinmetrics. Meanwhile, some believe the rapidly-rising valuation of the dominant stablecoin positively benefits Bitcoin (BTC) in the long term. But some investors also fear that it makes the cryptocurrency market vulnerable.
Tether has been the most widely-utilized stablecoin for several years, and it has seen exponential growth. In January 2017, the total supply of Tether was hovering at around $10 million. Within four years, that number has increased by 1,200-fold.