Quick take:
- Tether’s market cap is now at $19 Billion
- It took 9 days for its market cap to gain from $18 Billion to $19 Billion
- Early 2020 found its market cap at $4 Billion and an increment of $1 Billion took close to a month
- XRP has regained its number 3 spot but Tether could once again reclaim the spot
- Tether could very well edge out Ethereum in 2021
According to Coinmarketcap, the market capitalization of the popular stablecoin of Tether (USDT) is now at $18.983 Billion. The market capitalization of Tether has been on a continuous climb since the beginning of 2020. The following chart courtesy of Coinmarketcap, further demonstrates this fact.
Tether’s Market Cap Grew By $1B in 9 Days to Reach $19B
As can be observed from the chart, Tether’s market cap has increased through a series of steps over time. The time interval between these steps has shrunk as 2020 has progressed. Tether’s and Bitfinex’s CTO, Paolo Ardoino, has summarized these increments via the following two-part Twitter thread. From his last entry, it can be observed that an increment of $1 Billion to reach $19 Billion in market cap was achieved in a record 9 days.
13/08/20: 12 billion (12 days)
26/08/20: 13 billion (13 days)
4/09/20: 14 billion (8 days)
16/09/20: 15 billion (12 days)
22/10/20: 16 billion (36 days)
05/11/21: 17 billion (14 days)
17/11/20: 18 billion (13 days)
26/11/20: 19 billion (9 days)— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) November 26, 2020
XRP Reclaims Number 3 Spot, But Tether is Lurking
A quick look at the top 5 rankings on Coinmarketcap reveals that XRP has reclaimed its number 3 spot with its recent impressive rally. However, only $5.6 Billion in market cap stands between XRP and Tether retaking the same number 3 spot. If Tether’s market cap continues to increase at its current rate, it will take USDT approximately 50 days to edge out XRP once again.
Ethereum Could Lose the Number 2 Spot to Tether (USDT) in 2021
Using the same rate of $1 Billion per 9 days, USDT could become a threat to Ethereum’s number 2 spot in approximately $350 days. This means that Tether (USDT) could edge out Ethereum from this position before the end of next year.
Such a scenario had been predicted by the team at Bloomberg in their October 2020 crypto market report. According to the report, demand for USD like digital assets will increase Tether’s market cap beyond that of Ethereum.
Expect Bitcoin #1, Tether #2 in 2021 If Trends Remain the Same.
Indicating demand for a digital version of gold (Bitcoin) and a crypto-asset like the dollar, if current trends prevail, the market cap of Tether may surpass Ethereum next year.