Crypto traders are following a big move from Tether (USDT) to see where the crypto and Bitcoin (BTC) markets may head next.
On Saturday, as the crypto markets turned green, Tether printed $120,000,000 new USDT.
💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 120,000,000 #USDT (120,440,672 USD) minted at Tether Treasury
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) April 18, 2020
Tether is designed as a bridge between fiat currency and cryptocurrencies. As a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, traders often use it to escape crypto market volatility.
Tether has been accused of minting USDT in an effort to manipulate the market and push prices higher, but the company says it simply creates new crypto assets when there’s a rise in demand.
Tether’s chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, calls the minting of $120,000,000 USDT an “inventory replenish” and says the new tokens will be used to meet future demand.
PSA: 120M USDt inventory replenish.
Note this is a authorized but not issued transaction, meaning that this amount will be used as inventory for next period issuance requests.— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) April 18, 2020
Market research by TokenAnalyst from December of last year shows that the issuance of new USDT is highly correlated with previous Bitcoin surges.
The company says BTC rallies 70% of the time when new USDT is minted.
