Tether’s USDT has officially flipped Ether by market capitalization. ETH dropped to $1,510 on Friday — its lowest point this year — dragging its market cap below $185 billion. USDT sits at $186 billion.
“The stablecoin overtake really highlights how the market still favors stability over ETH’s volatility right now,” said Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute. Ether slid 5.2% in 24 hours.
This milestone reflects a broader trend: stablecoins now represent almost 15% of the total crypto market cap. They contracted more than 30% during the last bear market cycle. This time, they’re hitting record highs.
“To us, that is the strongest evidence yet that stablecoins are one of crypto’s defining use cases — demand that no longer depends on the cycle,” 21Shares wrote in a Thursday post.
In other crypto news: South Korea’s data protection regulator fined Bithumb 210 million won ($136,000) for transferring users’ personal information overseas without proper consent. And Japan’s SBI Holdings signed a $289 million deal to acquire crypto exchange Bitbank along with a DeFi platform.
