Most popular stablecoins by market cap:
Although there are quite a few different stablecoins out there, some of them stand out in terms of usage and overall size.
Here are the most popular stablecoins:
Tether (USDT):
Since its inception in 2014, Tether (USDT) is undoubtedly the dominant market leader when it comes to stablecoins.
Tether converts cash into a digital currency, and pegs its price to the US dollar 1:1.
According to the official website:
- Each Tether is always backed by 100% of the company's reserves.
- These reserves include traditional paper currencies and cash equivalents.
It is worth noting that there are several networks where USDT is minted. At the time of writing this article (November 2021) USDT is working on: Omni, Ethereum, Tron, EOS, and Liquid.
USDT is powered by Tether, which is closely related to iFinex, which is the parent company of the popular Bitfinex platform. This fact sparked a lot of controversy surrounding the digital stablecoin.
In 2017, the CFTC sent subpoenas to both Tether and Bitfinex, with possible reasons being a lack of security audits, as well as alleged Bitcoin price manipulation.
| price | Market value | Launch date |
|---|---|---|
| $1.00 | $72,772,900,181 | November 2014 |
Currency (USDC):
USDC) is a stablecoin launched by the American cryptocurrency exchange “Coinbase” together with the trading desk and OTC - Circle. They are designed to be pegged to the US dollar 1:1.
Fun fact is that Coinbase rewards its clients for holding USDC in their exchange account.
According to Coinbase's official website, each USDC is backed by 1 US dollar, which is held in bank accounts.
The cryptocurrency is powered by the Ethereum blockchain, as a token based on the ERC-20 standard.
This means that users can store it in Ethereum-compatible wallets, such as MyEtherWallet and MyCrypto.
| price | Market value | Launch date |
|---|---|---|
| $0.924 | $37,763,673,306 | October 2018 |
Currency (PAX):
Similar to all other stablecoins, PAX can be transferred instantly, without any regard to time or location.
Like the aforementioned coin, PAX is also pegged 1:1 to the dollar and is based on the Ethereum blockchain and built according to the ERC-20 standard.
Paxos Trust, the issuer of PAX, is also the company that operates the Paxos trading platform, along with custody and protection services for physical and digital assets as a regulated trust.
The company was founded in 2012 and started with the launch of the 'itBit' exchange in Singapore. Later in 2015, Paxos was awarded the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) credit charter.
Paxos claims that the dollars backing each PAX are held in segregated accounts, insured by the FDIC and housed in US banks.
According to the official website, PAX is listed on more than 100 trading platforms.
| price | Market value | Launch date |
|---|---|---|
| $0.986 | $865,754,013 | October 2018 |
Currency (TUSD):
TUSD is another stablecoin based on ERC-20, which is also pegged to the US dollar 1:1.
According to the official website, TUSD is supported by more than 70 trading platforms around the world, including major exchanges.
The TrueUSD issuer has also issued other pegged stablecoins such as:
TrueGBP و TrueAUD و TrueCAD و TrueHKD.
| price | Market value | Launch date |
|---|---|---|
| $0.986 | $1,312,225,893 | January 2018 |
Binance Stablecoin (BUSD):
Binance Stablecoin (BUSD) is the stablecoin that resulted from a partnership between leading cryptocurrency exchanges and Paxos.
It has been approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and has been available for trading since 2019.
| price | Market value | Launch date |
|---|---|---|
| price | $8,402,542,643 | October 2018 |
