Tether (USDT) is exhibiting strange behavior, with both circulating and total supply falling by around 200 million tokens. The total number has retreated to 2.96 billion from above 3 billion tokens, while the circulating supply distributed among exchanges is now 2.5 billion tokens. The USDT supply started shrinking on July 23, according to data on CoinMarketCap.
In theory, the falling supply should mean a withdrawal of funds from the dollar-pegged asset. For small-scale users, however, receiving funds takes a long time. Additionally, there are no transactions in the Tether minting wallet to signify destroyed tokens and explain the lower supply.
However, the supply reported to CoinMarketCap now differs from the total supply as listed by the Tether wallet on the Omni explorer, which shows a balance of 3.02 billion tokens.
Even more curiously, the supply of TrueUSD (TUSD) also started sliding in the past weeks, going from 81 million down to 67.5 million tokens. After the latest report on the matching amounts of funds and tokens, the supply of TUSD started falling again from July 23 onward, coinciding with the lowered supply announced on CoinMarketCap. The 67.5 million tokens are currently distributed in 709 addresses.
Recently, a new model has been suggested for the influence of USDT, namely that its clout is not directly pointed at buying Bitcoin but, in fact, filtered through EOS.
https://twitter.com/BryceWeiner/status/1022613255166939139
Others have connected EOS and Tether through the presence of co-founder Brock Pierce, and the behavior of EOS is seen as suggestive of its being a tool for Bitcoin manipulation.
https://twitter.com/BryceWeiner/status/1022620271272816640
The theory of indirect price manipulation sees USDT as being used in the less developed Ethereum market, later to flow into EOS. Additionally, Bitfinex has been accused of using its heft and influence to sway BTC prices.
USDT tokens have spread to other markets as well, boosting the performance of assets like Stellar (XLM). Cardano (ADA) also sees more than 42% of its trades happen against USDT, while the percentage for TRON (TRX) has increased to more than 60%. In the past, a pattern has been noted where altcoins rise in terms of USDT prices to have funds later redirected to Bitcoin.
The share of USDT trading in the entire crypto market has expanded to almost 20% after hovering around 14% for months. While USDT looks integral to the functioning of the crypto market, there are still skeptics who believe it is also the biggest threat to legitimacy and stability.
Neither the author nor the publication assumes any responsibility or liability for any investments, profits, or losses made as a result of this information. Cryptocurrency trading and investing are risky propositions, and market participants are advised to always conduct thorough research.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
