Tron Nears Ethereum in USDT Circulation After Major Mint

The Tron blockchain has come closer to surpassing Ethereum in the circulation of Tether (USDT) after another significant minting by the stablecoin issuer. On May 5, Tether created an additional $1 billion worth of USDT on the Tron network, according to Arkham Intelligence. This increases Tron’s total USDT holdings to $71.4 billion, based on Tether’s transparency report. Currently, Ethereum hosts $72.8 billion USDT in circulation, so Tron needs only an extra $1.4 billion USDT to reclaim its position as the leading network for the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, a position it held for the past two years.

Between July 2022 and November 2024, Tron was ahead of Ethereum in USDT circulation, but an $18 billion mint on Ethereum pushed it back into the lead, according to CryptoQuant. Solana is the third-largest network for USDT, with $1.9 billion circulating, followed by smaller amounts on networks like Ton, Avalanche, Aptos, Near, Celo, and Cosmos.

The total circulation of USDT has reached a record high of $149.4 billion, increasing by 8.6% since the start of this year, holding a dominant market share of 61%. Its closest competitor, Circle, has nearly $62 billion USDC in circulation, representing a 25% market share. Over the past six months, stablecoin issuance has surged, now making up about 8% of the total crypto market capitalization.

A U.S. Treasury report from late April projected that, with regulatory clarity, the stablecoin industry could grow to $2 trillion by 2028. Legislation crucial for the industry includes the GENIUS Act, which defines payment stablecoins and reserve rules, and the STABLE Act, which oversees stablecoin issuer regulation. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the GENIUS bill before May 26. Tether also plans to launch a U.S.-based stablecoin later this year, contingent on legislation passing.

In other news, the Curve Finance team regained access to their account with the help of cybersecurity experts after a recent hacking incident. The hacker posted scam links and blocked some users who flagged the account takeover. The cause of the hack remains unclear, with no evidence of client-side compromise.

Additionally, several high-profile Twitter accounts have been compromised this year. UK MP Lucy Powell’s account was hijacked to promote a scam crypto token. Crypto analyst Yu Hu and Kaito AI’s accounts were hacked, with scammers falsely claiming wallet breaches. The Pump.fun account was also hacked, promoting fake tokens.