Tether: 109 million on-chain wallets hold USDT

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As a seasoned crypto investor with a decade of experience under my belt, I find the recent statistics on Tether (USDT) usage truly eye-opening. The sheer number of users relying on USDT as their digital “bank account” is nothing short of staggering. With over 165 million users across both on-chain and off-chain wallets, it’s clear that USDT has become a staple in the crypto world, dwarfing even Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of on-chain wallet holders.

According to Tether, over 109 million unique users were found to be holding the USDT stablecoin across millions of on-chain wallets by the conclusion of the third quarter in 2024.

According to a blog post published on Dec. 9th, Tether mentioned that many people are currently using Tether’s stablecoin (USDT) as if it were their own bank account. In October, they revealed a report indicating that over 330 million users, represented by on-chain wallets and accounts, had received USDT by the end of September, 2024.

However, the report noted that many more users with USDT solely use it off-chain. This means that adoption for the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap is wider than the indicated data, Philip Gradwell, head of economics at Tether, said.

USDT on-chain holders

By the beginning of the fourth quarter in 2024, a staggering 109 million users had USDT stored in their on-chain wallets. This number surpasses the count of Bitcoin (BTC) wallets by more than twice, and it’s not far behind the 128 million Ethereum (ETH) wallets that were holding ETH on-chain at the start of October.

Beyond the approximately 109 million USDT wallets on the blockchain, Tether estimates that about two-thirds, or roughly 56 million, of these wallets are also found on centralized trading platforms, making them holders of the stablecoin. Information from partners indicates that a majority of users on cryptocurrency exchanges in developing countries primarily use these platforms to purchase, store, and transfer USDT, with popular choices being Binance, Coinbase, and OKX.

Based on the findings from the December 9th report, over 165 million units of the stablecoin are being held on the blockchain. Moreover, the frequent activation of wallets during regular transactions seems to indicate that an even larger number of users believe in and appreciate USDT’s role as a reliable form of value storage, according to Tether.

Tens of millions of accounts could hold USDT on centralized exchanges and trading platforms.

Significantly, approximately 18.7 million USDT wallets contain between one penny and $1 USD, while around 31.5 million wallets have balances of $1 to $1,000 USD in USDT. The data reveals that on-chain USDT wallets surpass other stablecoins by almost four times, with a total of 54 million wallets compared to 13.8 million for competing stablecoins.

Currently, the market capitalization of USDT exceeds $137 billion, which is over three times larger than that of its nearest competitor, USDC. At present, the market cap for USDC hovers around $40 billion.

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2024-12-09 21:11