Stablecoin issuer Tether minted another 1 billion USDt tokens on Tron, pushing the network’s authorized USDT supply to surpass Ethereum’s.
On May 15, blockchain data showed that Tether’s treasury minted $1 billion of its dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDt (USDT), into the Tron network.
As of May 14, Tether’s stablecoin transparency page shows that Tron’s authorized USDT totals $73.7 billion, while Ethereum has $74.5 billion in authorized USDT tokens. If the newly minted tokens are added to the number of authorized USDT assets, Tron’s supply surpasses Ethereum’s.
In terms of circulating supply, Tron also has the lead with $73.6 billion USDT on the network, while Ethereum only has $71.8 billion.
Tether’s USDT mints replenish the company’s token inventory
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino previously said on X that some of the company’s blockchain-based USDT mints are used to replenish their USDT inventory on blockchain networks. This means the tokens will be used for the next batch of issuance requests and chain swaps.
In traditional business settings, inventory replenishment requires stock orders to meet demands. Similarly, Tether may mint USDT to maintain a sufficient supply and hold on to the assets until they are issued officially. This ensures that the firm’s liquidity management is smooth.
This means that the authorized USDT supply on a network indicates the stablecoin issuer anticipates future issuance demand of the stablecoin on a blockchain.
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Ethereum and Tron battle for USDT supply dominance
Tron led USDT circulation between July 2022 and November 2024. CryptoQuant data showed that an $18 billion USDT mint on Ethereum pushed the network ahead in 2025. Tron’s USDT supply quickly caught up, with the latest mint pushing it past Ethereum again.
According to Tether’s transparency page, Solana has the third-biggest supply of USDT in the market, with $2.3 billion authorized on the network. Avalanche has $1.8 billion in authorized USDT, making it the fourth-largest. While Avalanche has over $1 billion in authorized USDT, the network has a net circulation of only $752 million in tokens.
The Open Network, Aptos, Near, Celo and Cosmos have smaller authorized and circulating USDT supplies.
CoinGecko data shows that Tether’s total circulation is at a record high of $150 billion, a 9.4% increase over its supply at the start of 2025. This gives the stablecoin issuer 61% of all the USD stablecoins in the market.
Circle, its closest competitor, has $60.4 billion in stablecoins, giving it a market share of 24.6%, according to CoinGecko.
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