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How Does Tether Make Money?

Last Updated on February 27, 2024

James Headshot
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Quick Answer:

Stablecoins like Tether (USDT) are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price by being pegged to a reserve, such as the US dollar. Tether, the most popular stablecoin, is backed by USD reserves, making it a less volatile investment option within the crypto space.

USDT facilitates quick and low-cost transactions between crypto wallets and is widely accepted on exchanges, often in place of fiat currencies. Tether originally operated on the Bitcoin blockchain via the Omni Layer but has since expanded to other blockchains like Ethereum (as ERC-20 tokens), EOS, and TRON.

Despite its widespread use, Tether has faced controversy, particularly its close ties to the Bitfinex exchange and questions about its solvency. Nevertheless, Tether remains attractive for its rapid transaction times, lack of transaction fees between Tether wallets, and stability compared to other cryptocurrencies.

While Tether doesn’t offer the same investment growth potential as more volatile cryptocurrencies due to its stable nature, it is useful for arbitrage trading and as a medium of exchange. Users should, however, be aware of the minimum fiat withdrawal or deposit limits and the associated fees when converting USDT to USD.

The digital asset market offers plenty of opportunities for investments. By now, you are probably acquainted with the most popular cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), etc.

However, there is yet another type of cryptocurrency that you might not have heard of, a kind of digital coin that opens the door to cryptocurrency investments with lower volatility. We’re talking about the so-called stablecoins. Particularly the most popular stablecoin, Tether (USDT), by market cap.

Now, you might be wondering if USDT tokens experience little to no fluctuations in price, then how does USDT make money?

Unlike most cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, you can’t take advantage of the price fluctuations to make money with Tether. However, because Tether’s reserves are backed up by US dollars, USDT tokens are a great substitute for fiat currencies.

For traders, you might find that most crypto exchanges in the crypto market accept Tether when they don’t accept fiat currencies. Tether’s fast transaction time makes it advantageous for those who arbitrage Bitcoin and other cryptos as well.

In this article, we’ll explain what is USDT coin, the world’s most widely-used stablecoin. You’ll also learn how Tether makes money and more on what makes it a good investment.

usdt tether stablecoin concept

What Is a Stablecoin?

A stablecoin is a new class of cryptocurrencies that are meant to achieve a stable price by having their value tied to an external reference. Stablecoins are issued by a centralized company that ties the stablecoin either by setting up collateral or by using algorithms that manipulate the supply of stablecoin, depending on the demand, in order to create price stability.

Stablecoins can be tied to fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies, and precious metals like gold.

Stablecoins are an attempt to reduce the gap between fiat currencies, such as US dollars and Euros, and cryptocurrencies. In basics, the stablecoins are divided into three categories depending on the working mechanism they use.

Fiat-Collateralized Stablecoins

The name fiat-collateralized stablecoins suggests that these stablecoins are backed by traditional currencies, like US dollars or euros. This means that in order to issue a particular number of tokens of a given digital currency, the issuer has to put reserves in USDs or euros that are worth the same amount as the collateral.

Other than fiat currencies, you can also use commodities like gold for collateral.

The reserves are managed by independent guardians, and they’re regularly inspected for compliance. The most well-known stablecoin that is backed by reserves in US dollars is Tether (USDT).

Crypto-Collateralized Stablecoins

The value of crypto-collateralized stablecoins is tied to the value of other digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin. When the underlying asset is also a digital currency (also known as crypto-collateralized stablecoins), the stablecoins aren’t very secure, and they may be highly volatile.

We use the term “over-collateralization” for these types of stablecoins, which implies that you’ll need to reserve a significantly large amount of backing cryptocurrencies in order to issue even a small number of tokens.

Non-Collateralized (Algorithmic) Stablecoins

Algorithmic stablecoins don’t use reserve assets to obtain their stability. Instead, the stability of non-collateralized stablecoins is obtained through a working mechanism, like the mechanism of printing banknotes, to maintain the valuations of a fiat currency that is used by central banks.

For example, Basecoin is a stablecoin that is tied to the US dollar, and it uses a consensus mechanism. This mechanism or algorithm is used to decrease or increase the tokens’ supply on a need basis.

Tether USDT black and white

What Is Tether (USDT)?

Tether Limited is a company located in Hong Kong that developed the first and most popular stablecoin named Tether. The company operates an eponymous software platform that issues blockchain-based cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the value of fiat currencies held in a designated bank account.

Tether was first presented as RealCoin in July 2014 via whitepaper, and in November of the same year, it was renamed Tether. The stablecoin was developed with the idea of making fiat currencies more compatible with the new cryptocurrencies that are traded 24/7 on the active global market.

Tether tokens that are pegged to US dollars are known as USDT.

When a new Tether token is mined and issued, it can be traded, stored, and transferred by crypto exchanges like any other cryptocurrency. However, unlike some other cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin), Tether has an infinite supply of tokens, making it a highly liquid crypto.

How Does Tether Work?

In the beginning, Tether was issued on the basis of the Bitcoin protocol using Omni Layer, an open-source, decentralized platform that runs on the Bitcoin blockchain. However, today, Tether can be issued on other blockchains as well. As a matter of fact, most of the USDT supply exists on Ethereum in the form of ERC-20 tokens, and it’s also issued on numerous other blockchains, such as EOS, Algorana, and TRON.

The USDT peg is managed by using a collateral. Tether Limited claims that for every 1 USDT that exists, there is 1 USD worth of currency kept at the reserve.

In order for the price of 1 USDT to equal 1 USD, it has to be redeemable for 1 USD fiat currency at any time. You can directly exchange USDT for USD by using a crypto exchange such as Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, and Bitfinex, or by using Tether itself, but the minimum fiat withdrawal or deposit on Tether is 100,000 USD, and the fees on this platform are considerably high.

Time for Stablecoin written on Clock

How to Sell Tether

You can store, sell, or buy Tether in the same way you would do other crypto assets. The easiest way of selling USDT for fiat or crypto is by using a cryptocurrency exchange.

Selling Tether is an easy three-step process:

  • First, you have to choose a crypto exchange that supports Tether in one or more fiat currency pairings, such as Kraken, Coinbase, or Bitfinex, and sign up for an account. Review the crypto exchanges carefully, so that you can choose the one that has the lowest withdrawal fees and best exchange rates;
  • The next step is to store the USDT that you own into your exchange account. Given that the exchange that you have chosen supports Tether, you can sell USDT for US dollars directly.
  • Finally, go to the navigation section on the exchange’s dashboard to find the USDT pairing you want, such as USDT/USD, USDT/BTC, or USDT/ETH. Afterward, enter the amount of USDT that you want to sell and confirm the transaction.

The Tether and Bitfinex Controversy

Bitfinex was the first cryptocurrency exchange to present Tether into its ecosystem in January of 2015, and it immediately became a huge success. There was a huge interest among users regarding USDT, which is how Bitfinex became recognized as the best and largest cryptocurrency exchange for USDT trading.

But some researchers became suspicious and started raising the question of whether Tether was as solvent as it claimed to be. Their data digging confirmed these concerns and in 2017, the Paradise Papers revealed that the corporate structure and the management of both Bitfinex and Tether were almost identical, and this was the main reason for the overnight success of Tether. In other words, the success of Tether was also engineered.

The researchers revealed that both Tether and Bitfinex have listed the same chief of finance, chief of strategy, and executive chief and that Tether’s founder, Philip Potter, has been managing the major activities at Bitfinex as well.

However, this wasn’t the only controversy surrounding Bitfinex and Tether. Another surprise came in April 2019, when the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, made an accusation against iFinex Inc., the parent company of Tether Limited that operates the Bitfinex crypto exchange as well, for hiding a loss of 850 million US dollars that consisted funds from corporate investors.

So, after all that, we can’t really say that Tether is the most transparent stablecoin to invest in. But still, there are some things to consider on why you should invest in Tether.

Stable Coin digital concept

Three Reasons Why You Should Invest in Tether

Since crypto assets are interesting investment opportunities due to their volatility, you might ask yourself: what is the purpose of cryptocurrencies that want to maintain a stable price and experience very little volatility? Well, you can compare owning Tether to leaving a deposit in a bank account, except that the interest rate is 0%.

If Tether is riskier in comparison to regular crypto assets, and if it doesn’t provide an opportunity for you to earn some money, then why use it at all?

In reality, Tether is mainly used by investors and traders worldwide as a substitute for fiat currencies. However, there is no saying that you can’t earn from Tether either.

How to Make Money with Tether

Tether is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies for making quick profits. The best way to earn money from tether is through arbitrage trading — buying high and selling low. This means you need to be able to predict when prices will move up and down.

Below are three other reasons why you may find Tether useful:

Transaction processing time

The withdrawals and deposits of US dollars to and from foreign exchanges can take a lot of your time. It takes approximately one to four days to complete the process. Moreover, if a transaction is made overnight, on weekends, or during holidays, the waiting time might be longer as the banks are closed.

On the other hand, Tether transactions can be completed in just a few minutes. This advantage is important as traders of crypto assets are sometimes in a hurry to withdraw their assets and make use of arbitrage, the process of buying crypto assets on one crypto exchange and selling them on another one in order to take advantage of price fluctuations.

Transaction fees

The transactions that are made using SWIFT are typically very expensive and can cost you approximately 20-30 US dollars. Moreover, if the fiat currency that you use isn’t supported by the crypto exchange, then the bank will additionally charge you an extra fee for foreign exchange conversion and add a percentage for the transfer.

Tether doesn’t charge a fee for transactions that are made between Tether cryptocurrency wallets, but you still have to pay the standard fees that apply for the blockchain network.

Lack of price volatility

Since crypto assets are volatile, it’s better to buy them using Tether instead of some other currency. You may find that many cryptocurrency exchanges on the cryptocurrency market don’t accept fiat currencies, but they do accept Tether.

Stablecoin crypto Market

Frequently Asked Questions

What is USDT meaning in crypto?

The United States Dollar Tether is an alternative cryptocurrency based on Bitcoin technology, which allows users to send money to each other without using banks or traditional payment systems. The USDT token was created from a fork of Ethereum’s ERC20 standard, which allows it to be traded on exchanges such as Binance and KuCoin.

What is USDC?

USD coin is an alternative token for Tether, which has been created by Bitfinex. The reason why it was created is that there are some issues with USDT, such as the fact that it can be used to manipulate the price of Bitcoin. So instead of using USDT, people will use USDC. However, USD Coin cannot be traded on most exchanges due to some regulations.

A Few Words Before You Go…

Hopefully, we’ve helped you understand what stablecoins are and the differences between them and regular cryptocurrencies.

Now that you are familiar with the Tether stablecoin and its use cases, you can decide whether you’ll invest in it or not.

About The Author

James Headshot
Written by

Crypto Technical Writer

James Page, previously the lead writer at Crypto Head and a registered psychologist, brings a unique perspective to the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

His extensive experience in the industry and ability to present complex concepts in an understandable manner make his articles a valuable resource for readers seeking to navigate the ever-evolving crypto landscape.

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