The market capitalization of stablecoin Tether in November 2021 was roughly three billion U.S. dollars higher than it was one month before. In 2021, Tether ranks as one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world and is regarded as the most well-known "stablecoin", or cryptocurrency that is connected to the price development of another, real-world asset. This particular segment made up roughly half of the overall value locked in Decentralized Finance or DeFi.

After several fluctuations in earlier years, the price of Tether or USDT since 2020 achieved the stability against the U.S. dollar that it was designed to reach. In 2021, Tether ranks as one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world and is regarded as the most well-known "stablecoin", or cryptocurrency that is connected to the price development of another, real-world asset. As Tether's USDT code suggest, the token is, in this case, connected to the U.S. dollar. This effectively means that a single Tether will nearly always be worth one single U.S. dollar. This relative stability, unlike the price development of, say, Ripple (XRP), is what defines a stablecoin and is especially important for decentralized lending and borrowing. This particular segment made up roughly half of the overall value locked in Decentralized Finance or DeFi.

Tether trading volume reached over several billions of U.S. dollars every single day, but was especially high in late May 2021 and early September 2021. The trade spike on May 19, 2021, could be attributed to news that day that China was to ban crypto services - which led to significant declines in market cap across the entire crypto market. The trading peak on ***********, however, does not have as clear of a potential cause. One day before, the Canadian region of Ontario banned crypto platforms from using Tether altogether. Additionally, the price of Tether was briefly below one U.S. dollar - which may have caused people to buy the stablecoin.

The dominance of Tether (USDT) increased as of May 2025, although its market share in the crypto market was not as high as during the summer. Within the crypto world, this so-called "dominance" ratio is one of the oldest and most investigated metrics available. It measures the coin's market cap relative to the overall crypto market - for instance, it shows how strong Bitcoin is compared to all the other cryptocurrencies that are not BTC, called "altcoins".

Bitcoin dominance steadily declined in April 2024 to below ** percent, amid rumors of central banks halting or potentially lowering interest rates in the future. Within the crypto world, this so-called "dominance" ratio is one of the oldest and most investigated metrics available. It measures the coin's market cap relative to the overall crypto market — effectively showing how strong Bitcoin compared to all the other cryptocurrencies that are not BTC, called "altcoins". Why dominance matters is because market caps of any crypto can change relatively quickly, either due to sudden price changes or a change of recorded trading volume. Essentially, the figure somewhat resembles a trading sentiment, revealing whether Bitcoin investors are responding to certain events or whether Bitcoin is losing out on functions offered by, for example, stablecoins or NFT tokens. "Dominance" criticism: Ethereum and stablecoin The interpretation of the Bitcoin metric is not without its criticism. When first conceived, Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to be created and had a substantial market share within all cryptocurrencies? The overall share of stablecoins, such as Tether, as well as Ethereum increasingly start to resemble that of Bitcoin, however. Some analysts argue against this comparison. For one, they point towards the large influence of trading activity between Bitcoin and Ethereum in the dominance metric. Second, they argue that stablecoins can be traded in for Bitcoin and Ethereum, essentially showing how much investors are willing to engage with "regular" cryptocurrency. A rally around Bitcoin in late 2023? By December 2023, the Bitcoin price reached roughly 41,000 U.S. dollars — the first time in 20 months such a value was reached. A weaker U.S. dollar, speculation on decreasing interest rates, and a potential Bitcoin ETF approval are believed to be at the heart of this price increase. Whether this will hold in 2024 is unclear: The monthly interest rate from the U.S. Fed is speculated to decrease in 2024, despite a vow of "higher for longer". In December 2023, the thought of decreasing interest rates and the potential of a Bitcoin ETF fuelled market sentiment towards riskier assets.