Can any stablecoin topple tether? In 2019, the answer to that question was an emphatic ‘No.’ Despite a string of stablecoins being released onto the market, tether (USDT) increased its grip on the cryptoconomy’s fiat supply, racking up $127B of on-chain volume on Ethereum alone. This year, the king of stablecoins faces a renewed assault from Binance’s BUSD, Saga’s SGD, and a revitalized USD Coin (USDC). But can any of them claw market share from tether, or will the king of stablecoins increase its stranglehold?
Also read: Competing Stablecoins Can’t Topple Tether
Stablecoin War Enters a New Phase
Tether’s market cap serves as a good barometer for the crypto market. When USDT commands a top four spot, it’s a sure sign that the outlook is bearish and traders are seeking refuge in tether as they try to time bitcoin’s next move up. When tether drops a few places, as has occurred in the past week, it can be taken as evidence of bullish conditions returning. At press time, USDT sits in sixth with a market cap of $4.1B and litecoin and EOS hot on its heels.
What a casual glance at the top 10 can’t reveal is the health of the stablecoin contenders that are intent on eating away at tether’s market share. They’ll have their work cut out, but they have history in their favor at least: just two of the coins that were in the top 20 by market cap in 2013 are still here, just three from 2014, and five from 2015. There’s a lot of churn, in other words, and tether is not immune from this trend.
Tether Challengers Stack Up
One challenger that should be in
