Traders have yanked $7bn from Tether since the world’s biggest stablecoin last week briefly lost its peg against the US dollar, intensifying concerns about the assets that underpin the global cryptocurrency market.
Tether’s market value has fallen by 9 per cent since May 12 to $76bn as tokens have been removed from circulation to meet redemption requests, CryptoCompare data show. The decline comes after Tether last Thursday traded at around 95 cents, well below the $1 level it seeks to maintain following the failure of a smaller rival.
Observers inside and outside of the crypto market have warned that deeper or more lasting volatility in stablecoins, which are designed to maintain a one-to-one peg with the dollar, could drag down the value of thousands of speculative crypto assets that have drawn in speculative buyers around the world.