The market capitalization of the USDT stablecoin reached a new high of $187.3 billion, increasing by $12.4 billion during the fourth quarter of 2025. In its quarterly report, the company highlighted significant growth in its user base during this period—up by 35 million to more than 534 million. This marks the eighth consecutive quarter in which the number of stablecoin users has increased by more than 30 million.
The estimate of 534 million users includes all blockchain addresses that have ever received USDT and held it for at least 24 hours, as well as addresses of centralized platforms to which USDT was transferred.
Structure of USDT users and reserves
The number of coin holders who stored USDT on blockchain addresses increased by 14.7 million by the end of the quarter, exceeding 139 million. Wallets holding USDT now account for 70.7% of all stablecoin wallets. According to Tether, more than 100 million users hold USDT on centralized platforms. The average monthly number of active blockchain users reached a record level of 24.8 million in the fourth quarter.
Tether’s total reserves grew by $11.7 billion during the quarter, reaching $192.9 billion, including:
- 96,184 BTC;
- 127.5 tons of gold;
- $141.6 billion in U.S. Treasury securities.
“The continued growth of USDT is driven by a wide range of use cases beyond the crypto market. The data clearly shows users’ preference for USDT as a stablecoin for savings and transactions,” the report states.
What is happening in the market amid USDT growth
The growth in USDT’s market capitalization and usage occurred despite a large wave of liquidations in October, followed by increased volatility throughout the fourth quarter.
“The cascade of liquidations in the crypto market on October 10, 2025, resulted in the stablecoin ecosystem growing more slowly than before. The total crypto market capitalization fell by more than one-third between October 10, 2025, and February 1, 2026, while USDT grew by 3.5% over the same period. Meanwhile, the second- and third-largest stablecoins—Circle’s USDC and USDe—declined by 2.6% and 57%, respectively,” the report notes.
The crypto market peaked in early October, when Bitcoin reached a record $126.2K and total cryptocurrency market capitalization hit $4.28 trillion. At the same time, the largest liquidation of trading positions in history was recorded—nearly $20 billion in a single day.
By the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, Bitcoin had dropped 23% to below $88K. By February 5, its price fell below $70K, while total market capitalization declined to $2.4 trillion. During this period, crypto price dynamics diverged from precious metals, which were setting new all-time highs at the start of 2026. Major U.S. stock indices showed a similar upward trend.
What was not included in the total user statistics
At the same time, certain categories of holders are not included in the final user base estimate, which means the actual number of users may be higher. The statistics do not include:
- addresses that held USDT for less than 24 hours;
- internal exchange and service accounts without separate address structures;
- users operating through custodial solutions without their own blockchain address;
- offline settlements and internal balances within payment services;
- private corporate transactions not reflected in public data.
This means the real USDT audience may be significantly larger than official estimates, especially considering the active use of the stablecoin in settlements, cross-border transfers, and capital storage outside the traditional banking system.
