The world’s largest stablecoin by market value — USDT — is used by more than 500m people globally, the issuer Tether said.
Chief executive Paolo Ardoino called the milestone “the most important achievement of financial inclusivity in history.” He also shared a chart of the stablecoin’s user growth:
“Programmable money is the highest form of social network. A peer-to-peer ecosystem that transmits both information and value at the same time,” — added Ardoino.
At the time of writing, USDT’s market value exceeds $182.3bn, according to CoinGecko. The stablecoin holds 59.11% of the market. The nearest competitor — USDC from Circle — stands at $76.7bn.
The asset runs on 13 networks. Most is issued on Ethereum — more than $101bn. TRON and Solana account for $78bn and $2.7bn, respectively.
In August the issuer also announced support for USDT on RGB — a protocol for issuing digital assets on the Bitcoin network.
New investments and a push into the US market
On October 21, Tether disclosed an investment in African payments platform Kotani Pay, designed to connect Web3 users with the region’s traditional financial services. The amount was not disclosed.
Tether Invests in Kotani Pay to Revolutionize Africa’s Digital Asset Infrastructure and Cross-Border Payments
Learn more: https://t.co/CcG4GX2JJ3— Tether (@Tether_to) October 21, 2025
As part of the partnership, the parties aim to integrate emerging markets into the global financial system using blockchain.
Interest in digital assets in Africa is growing, though the market remains small. Over the past year, the value of on-chain transactions in the region jumped 52% to $205bn, the press release said.
At the end of 2024, Tether invested $775m in the Canadian video hosting and cloud storage service Rumble. In 2025 the company invested in shares of the Italian media firm Be Water and acquired a stake in the gold-mining company Elemental Altus Royalties.
The issuer is currently holding talks with Japan’s SoftBank and Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment to raise $20bn. That would value Tether at up to $500bn, putting it among the world’s most valuable private firms alongside OpenAI and SpaceX.
The firm is also preparing to enter the US market. By year-end, Tether plans to launch a US-regulated “stablecoin”, USAT. The asset will fully comply with the GENIUS Act.
Earlier, the company unveiled an open-source wallet development kit.