What is Tether (USDT)?
Tether (USDT) fact sheet with live price · reviewed November 4, 2026
Tether (USDT) is the largest stablecoin: a crypto token designed to always be worth $1, issued by the company Tether. Tether says every USDT is backed by reserves, mostly US Treasury bills. It's used mainly for trading and for moving dollars across borders, on blockchains such as Tron and Ethereum.
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Key facts
| Launched | 2014 (originally as "Realcoin") |
|---|---|
| Issued by | Tether (CEO Paolo Ardoino; headquartered in El Salvador since 2025) |
| Type | Dollar stablecoin, issued as a token on many blockchains |
| Supply | No fixed limit: about 183 billion USDT at September 30, 2026, per Tether's attestation |
| Backing (Q3 2026 attestation) | About $191.5 billion of assets: mostly US Treasury bills and repos, plus gold, bitcoin, secured loans and other investments |
| Checked by | Quarterly attestations by the accounting firm BDO (not a full audit) |
| Biggest networks | Tron and Ethereum |
Who runs it
A private company, Tether, issues and redeems USDT. It's closely linked to the exchange Bitfinex, and its chief executive is Paolo Ardoino. Tether, not a blockchain community, decides how reserves are invested and can freeze USDT held at particular addresses, which it does at the request of law enforcement.
What it's used for
USDT is the most common "dollar" in crypto trading, and widely used to send dollars internationally, especially in countries with unstable currencies or limited access to US bank accounts.
How it works
Approved customers send dollars to Tether, which issues new USDT, and redeem USDT for dollars, which Tether destroys. Everyone else buys and sells it on exchanges, where traders keep the price close to $1 because they can profit from any gap. The same USDT exists separately on many networks ("USDT on Tron", "USDT on Ethereum"), and you must send it on the matching network. See what is a stablecoin?
What backs it
Tether publishes a reserve report every quarter, checked by BDO. The September 30, 2026 report showed about $191.5 billion of assets against about $183.5 billion of liabilities, an extra cushion of about $7.95 billion. Roughly $140 billion was in US Treasury bills, repurchase agreements and cash; the rest included about $19 billion of gold, about $8.4 billion of bitcoin and about $14 billion of secured loans. An attestation confirms the numbers at one moment; it is not a full audit of the company.
Where things stand (November 2026)
The US GENIUS Act, the first federal stablecoin law, takes effect on January 18, 2027, and bank regulators finished key rules in October 2026. USDT is issued from outside the US and isn't a US-licensed payment stablecoin. Instead, in January 2026 Tether launched a separate token for the US market, USAT, issued by the federally chartered Anchorage Digital Bank. In the EU, many exchanges restricted USDT for European customers in 2025 because it isn't authorized under the MiCA rules.
Risks to know
- You rely on Tether the company: its reserves, banking partners and honesty. In 2021 US regulators fined it over past statements about its backing.
- Part of the backing is gold, bitcoin and loans, which can lose value faster than Treasury bills.
- Tether can freeze USDT at specific addresses.
- Sending USDT on the wrong network (for example TRC-20 vs. ERC-20) is a common, costly mistake.
- Scammers favor USDT, including "pig butchering" investment scams; fake "flash USDT" that disappears from your wallet doesn't exist as real USDT.
Buying and storing it
If you decide to buy, use a regulated exchange you reach directly, check fees with the true cost calculator, and store long-term holdings in a wallet you control, with the seed phrase written down offline. Read how to buy crypto safely. This page isn't a recommendation to buy.
Questions
Is USDT safe?
It has kept close to $1 for most of its history, but it isn't a bank deposit or government-insured. Its safety depends on Tether's reserves and on where you hold it.
What's the difference between USDT and USDC?
Both aim for $1. They're issued by different companies: USDC (Circle) holds only cash and short-term Treasury-based assets and publishes monthly reports; USDT (Tether) also holds gold, bitcoin and loans and publishes quarterly.
What does TRC-20 or ERC-20 USDT mean?
Which blockchain the USDT is on: TRC-20 is Tron, ERC-20 is Ethereum. They aren't interchangeable by simply sending.
Is USAT the same as USDT?
No. USAT is a separate Tether token for the US market, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank under US rules.
Compare Tether
See it side by side, with live data: Tether vs. USD Coin. Track it in the private portfolio tracker.
Where to next
Sources
- Tether transparency and reserve reports (tether.to)
- Tether reports $1.5B Q3 profit; total reserves reach $191.5B (Bitcoin.com News)
- Tether officially launches USAT (The Block)
- OCC finalizes GENIUS Act stablecoin rules (Decrypt)
- CFTC orders Tether to pay $41 million (CFTC, 2021)
Facts checked against the sources listed, as of November 4, 2026. Live price data by CoinGecko. Educational only; not financial advice. How we write and check pages.