Tether news

Fintech Revolut began distributing EURR, a euro-backed stablecoin issued by Stripe-owned Bridge, to customers in Denmark, Poland, and Portugal on August 26, 2026, with plans for expansion across the European Economic Area. The rollout follows the July 1 delisting of Tether's USDT from MiCA-licensed exchanges in the EEA, after Tether declined to apply for e-money authorization, objecting to a requirement that 60% of reserves be held in EU bank deposits. With USDT absent, Circle's USDC and EURC are the only large-cap compliant stablecoins in Europe, a near-monopoly. Revolut's advantage lies in its vast distribution network of over 50 million European customers, potentially making EURR a major consumer-facing competitor. Meanwhile, many European USDT users have migrated to decentralized exchanges, increasing risks, and the global stablecoin market continues to be dominated by USDT and USDC.

A new BitOK report reveals that criminals can still move USDT before Tether completes a freeze, despite faster blacklist times. In a recent case, $37.3 million was moved just two minutes before the final approval. The report found that $127.6 million left targeted addresses during the freeze process in the past year, a 6.1-fold increase from the prior period, largely due to longer approval windows. Tether's blacklist process involves a public multisignature wallet, which reveals the target before the freeze is complete. Median freeze times have improved to 1 hour 46 minutes on Ethereum and 1 hour 30 minutes on Tron, but attackers exploit these windows. However, Tether has demonstrated it can execute freezes almost instantly with coordinated action, suggesting faster emergency procedures are possible.

Aave has solidified its dominance in decentralized finance, holding 62.8% of all USDT and USDT0 stablecoin deposits across 29 DeFi venues, according to Token Terminal data from August 19. The protocol's $3.83 billion in Tether deposits out of a total $6.1 billion represents a market share no competitor approaches. This position was built through steady growth, including a $526 million net increase in USDT deposits over the 90 days leading into late July 2026, alongside governance decisions to expand supply limits. The total figure includes USDT0, Tether's omnichain variant built on LayerZero technology, which has processed over $85 billion in lifetime bridge volume. While Aave's deep liquidity offers benefits like stable borrowing rates and efficient capital deployment, the concentration poses significant risk: a smart contract vulnerability, governance misstep, or regulatory action targeting Aave could destabilize the entire stablecoin lending market, as the remaining 28 venues lack the depth to absorb a sudden migration.

Tether's estimated $120 million Bitcoin mining project in Uruguay collapsed due to a dispute with state-owned power utility UTE over electricity supply terms, Reuters reported. Tether believed the agreed power figure was a minimum, while UTE treated it as a hard cap. After a new left-leaning government took office in March 2025, negotiations tightened, and Tether's local entity stopped paying bills, prompting UTE to cut power in July. Tether notified labor authorities in November that it would end operations and lay off most staff. The project, launched in 2023, was intended as a "first step" into South America. Despite the shutdown, Tether continues regional investments, including a 70% stake in renewable energy firm Adecoagro. An analyst noted Uruguay's high power costs make it unviable for mining, though its infrastructure suits AI data centers.

Tether's USDT deposits on Aave V3 surged by $525.7 million over 90 days, rising from $1.93 billion to about $3.03 billion between May and late July. Active USDT loans reached $2.5 billion in July, with borrowers absorbing most of the new supply. The protocol's governance raised supply caps repeatedly, including a June vote to $3.48 billion, as utilization rates often hit 90-97%. By August 2026, Aave V3 held roughly 63% of all USDT deployed across DeFi lending. The surge reflects renewed stablecoin demand but also raises concentration risks, as a potential USDT depeg or protocol disruption could ripple across the ecosystem, given Aave's dominant position.

Circle and Tether minted $3 billion in stablecoins over two days, signaling ongoing demand for on-chain dollar liquidity. Tether issued $1 billion in USDT on August 10, raising its supply to about $183 billion. Circle's weekly activity included $5.4 billion in mints and $5.3 billion in redemptions, a net $100 million increase, bringing USDC supply to $71.9 billion. Circle's gross volumes reflect institutional use, with average daily minting and redemptions of $1.9 billion in Q2 2026, up 105% year-over-year, and $14.8 trillion in transaction volume. USDC issues across 36 blockchains with a compliance-first approach, while Tether remains over 2.5 times larger. Combined stablecoin supplies now exceed $250 billion.

Bolivian fintech startup Peso has integrated its payment services with Yango Food, enabling users to pay for food delivery orders in USDT, Tether's stablecoin, via the Peso app. The service operates in cities like Santa Cruz, allowing users to hold dollar balances and spend them through familiar payment methods without needing a traditional bank account. The integration comes amid persistent dollar liquidity constraints in Bolivia, where physical US dollars are scarce, prompting growing use of USDT for payments and savings since mid-2026. This partnership exemplifies a model where blockchain complexity is abstracted away for users. However, Bolivia only recently lifted its ban on cryptocurrency transactions, so the regulatory framework remains in flux.

Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, announced that Big Four accounting firm KPMG has issued a clean, unqualified opinion on its 2025 financial statements, marking the first full audit in the company's history. KPMG's review included physically counting and inspecting every gold bar held by Tether, addressing long-standing skepticism about whether USDT is fully backed, which had previously led to regulatory settlements with New York and the CFTC in 2021. The audit comes as Tether expands into the U.S. market under the GENIUS Act framework, potentially challenging Circle's positioning as the transparent, regulated alternative. Other market news included the SEC postponing a crypto rulemaking meeting, a Trezor customer data breach, and prediction market Kalshi in talks for a $750 million raise at a $40 billion valuation.

Tether completed its first full independent audit of annual financial statements for 2025, with KPMG US issuing a clean, unqualified opinion. The audit covered the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flows, and found reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion. KPMG also physically inspected and counted Tether's gold holdings, verifying each bar. Unlike quarterly attestations, this full audit examined underlying transactions, systems, and counterparties. Tether remains dominant in the stablecoin market, with USDT's roughly $183 billion market cap representing about 61% of the sector. The company reported over $10 billion in net profit in 2025 and has expanded beyond stablecoins with investments in fintech and AI startups, while its tokenized gold product XAUt leads the commodity token market. Despite growth, CEO Paolo Ardoino has expressed no interest in taking the company public.

Tether announced that KPMG U.S. completed its first independent audit of reserves, calling it the largest inaugural financial audit in history. CEO Paolo Ardoino said the move disproves detractors who claimed such an audit was impossible. KPMG reportedly physically inspected Tether's gold bars and conducted substantive testing on all assets. Tether holds billions in Bitcoin, U.S. treasuries, and gold. Its USDT stablecoin has a market cap exceeding $183 billion, ranking as the third-largest cryptocurrency.