Tether Holdings SA CEO Paolo Adroino who was the United States on a “goodwill tour” attending US President Donald Trump’s digital asset summit last week, has claimed the US Dollar-linked stable coin is now valued at $137 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.

Tether also claims the title of “most-traded crypto” and in 2024 alone, the token pulled in around $13 billion due to increasing popularity, it added.

Crypto Prices Today: Bitcoin, Ether and Tether

At 9.25 am, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was trading at $81,764.22 (up 2.22 per cent from the previous day), with market capitalisation of $1.62 trillion, according to Coinmarketcap data. Its trading value over the past 24 hours was $30.28 billion.

Second biggest crypto Ether, was trading at $1,887.77 with market cap of $227.69 billion, and trading volume of $17.96 billion.

As of 9 am on March 14, Tether was trading at $1 each (up 0.07 per cent), with a market cap of $143.35 billion, as per data on CoinMarketCap. Its trade volume is down 10.79 per cent at $68.63 billion over the past 24 hours — but still double that of Bitcoin.

Here’s how the comparatively lesser known crypto token drew in double digit billion of inflows, jumped its value and beat allegations of criminal use and scrutiny over reserves.

The Rising Popularity of Tether Stablecoin

The report noted that it is Tether‘s “rising popularity” that helped the stablecoin pull in “a bumper profit haul” of around $13 billion in 2024 and become the world’s most traded cryptocurrency.

Ardoino’s US goodwill tour also came as Donald Trump announced a US cryptocurrency reserve and the dropping of dozens of lawsuits against crypto companies. Speaking at an event in New York, Ardoino said, “We have been through hell, people were saying that if I was coming to the US, I would be arrested. But we are still here.”

Why Did Tether Gain $13 billion Last Year?

The overall crypto market euphoria in 2024 and rising interest rates bouyed Tether’s fortunes quarter-on-quarter, another Bloomberg report noted.

Further, a reason for its stability could be because stablecoins are more resilient to sharp crypto market peaks and troughs due to being tied to currencies. Also, headquartered in El Salvador, Tether or USDT, is a stablecoin whose reserves largely comprise cash and cash-equivalent assets such as US government debt to maintain a one-to-one value with the US dollar.

Moreover, with Tether pegged to the US Dollar, it allows users flexibility in moving between tokens without needing to convert currencies — a boon for trading platforms with limited or no access to traditional banking and allowing anonymity, the report said.

This non-requirement for conversion also contributes to its “most-traded” title. Over the last 24 itself, the volume of trades from Tether was double that of the leading token, Bitcoin.

Tether’s Ties to US, Donald Trump Administration

“This is my first trip to America ever. I am very excited to be here to tell you everything about Tether is an open book,” Adroino said in NY.

The Tether reserve, is managed by Cantor Fitzgerald LP, whose CEO Howard Lutnick is Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary. The Wall Street financial services company also has signed a Bitcoin lending project with Tether.

“Tether is the last stronghold for the US dollar. We will help the US to prevent another antagonistic push from the other side,” Adroino added.

Besides the Trump administration connection, lawmakers in the US are seeking to regulate the crypto sector with Republicans pushing for quick action, as per the report. It added that the Senate Banking Committee is discussing a bipartisan deal to regulate stablecoins.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)