USDT/USD - Tether USDt US Dollar

Tether is an offering from Hong Kong-based tech company Tether Holdings. Tether or USDT was created to address the volatility concerns which currently plague the crypto industry. Given this, Tether is backed by fiat and is a stablecoin that aims to track the value of the US dollar. By extension, it aims to make crypto valuation stable. Tether serves as the first digital asset used by most crypto investors in interfacing with the crypto space.

Tether can be bought from most crypto exchanges in the blockchain ecosystem. Many crypto investors use it as a payment rail to buy other cryptocurrencies, making it highly popular. Exchanges like Binance, Huobi Global, Coinbase, Gate.io, Kucoin, and several others offer Tether purchases. Tether is the easiest cryptocurrency to lay your hands on.

Tether tracks the price movement of the US dollar, and since the coin is a stablecoin, Tether cannot be lower or higher than $1 with some little variation. This is why every Tether coin in circulation must be duly backed by a commensurate amount of physical cash or appropriate financial instrument.

Although Tether is a digital currency like Bitcoin, it cannot be mined as it is inherently pegged to the US greenback. Mining Tether would go against the reason why this cryptocurrency was created. The only way to get more Tether coins is to buy them.

How does Tether make money? Tether doesn't make money; on the contrary, it loses money because it is tied to a real-world asset. Nonetheless, it serves as a lubricant for the fast-evolving crypto market.

Tether coin has been involved in controversy over accusations that it has not been transparent with its reserves. The stablecoin company was required to post the quarterly records of its fiat reserve currencies after a lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General (NYAG) office. The company recently posted its records and showed that only 10% of the more than $69 billion-worth of Tether coins are backed with real cash and similar financial instruments. This record has drawn the ire of regulators and critics who allege that the stablecoin is printing money. The firm was recently embroiled in financial misappropriation with crypto exchange BitFinex which saw it slammed with an $18 million fine.