What is Tether (USDT)?
Tether (USDT) is the oldest and largest stablecoin - a token whose value is pegged to one US dollar and backed by an off-chain reserve of cash, Treasuries and equivalents. Issued by Tether Holdings, it has been the dominant dollar-denominated asset in crypto since 2015 and is by far the most-traded asset across all major exchanges.
USDT exists natively on more than a dozen chains, including Ethereum (ERC-20), Tron (TRC-20), Solana, Avalanche and Arbitrum. The Tron version in particular is the default settlement asset for a huge portion of global remittances inside the crypto economy.
How does Tether maintain its peg?
Tether maintains its peg through a straightforward issuance and redemption mechanism: verified institutions mint new USDT by depositing dollars into Tether's treasury, and can redeem USDT for dollars at par. Arbitrageurs take advantage of any deviation from $1 on exchanges to close the gap almost immediately.
Tether publishes quarterly attestations of its reserves and a real-time transparency page showing the total outstanding supply across chains. Its reserves consist primarily of short-duration US Treasury bills, repo and cash, which generate substantial interest income that funds ongoing operations and buybacks.