As trading volumes are falling, and assuming that trading is the dominant use case for stablecoins, a respective decline in market capitalization would be anticipated, according to Clara Medalie, Kaiko’s research director. USDC and BUSD stablecoins’ market caps have shrunk in tandem with trading volumes. “But we are not seeing this trend for Tether,” Medalie said.
One possible explanation for USDT’s trend-defying growth is the rotation to off-shore exchanges from regulated ones as U.S. regulators are increasingly separating crypto from the traditional financial system. “Traders that normally used U.S. dollars no longer have this as an option, thus are turning to Tether,” Medalie said.