USDT Tops 500M Users, Expands African Payments and Ventures

Published: 2025-10-22 11:24:38 |

USDT adoption has surpassed 500 million real users worldwide, representing about 6.25% of the global population. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says the milestone underscores USDT’s role as a USD-pegged stablecoin that functions both as a store of value and a daily payment tool. Demand is strongest in regions with unstable local currencies. A documentary on Kenya shows merchants hedging shilling devaluation and facilitating imports with USDT. According to CoinMarketCap, USDT’s market capitalization reached $182.5 billion, giving it a 57.4% share of the stablecoin market, compared with USDC’s $76.8 billion. Tether is investing in African fintech Kotani Pay to expand on-chain payment infrastructure, amid a 52% year-on-year rise in crypto activity in Sub-Saharan Africa, per Chainalysis. Beyond stablecoin adoption, Tether plans to raise up to $20 billion for AI, energy and media ventures. It has also partnered with Antalpha to fund $200 million for its gold-backed stablecoin XAUT and other tokenized assets.

Neutral

While the surge to 500 million users and expansion into African payments infrastructure highlights robust demand for USDT, stablecoins remain pegged to the US dollar. This milestone is likely to boost USDT issuance and liquidity in both short and long term, but it should not significantly affect its $1 peg. Traders may see higher USDT flows and market share gains supporting trading volume, however price volatility is expected to remain minimal.