Tether (USDT) User Growth Records Best Quarter in Q3, Adding 36.25 Million New Users

Tether’s USDT, the largest crypto stablecoin, recently celebrated its 10th year in the industry. The company’s growth has been impressive

Crypto stablecoin giant Tether (USDT) has announced another milestone in its decade-long journey within the digital asset industry. The company unveiled an impressive addition of 36.25 million new users in Q3, marking the highest quarterly user growth for USDT.

According to the data, Tether's stablecoin is now held by over 330 million on-chain wallets and accounts, indicating a significant reach among cryptocurrency users. The company noted that this figure pertains to users who directly received USDT in their wallets by the end of Q3.

However, the total user base is even larger when considering those who utilize the stablecoin on centralized platforms like Binance and Coinbase, which adds up to several million more users. As reported on October 16, these exchanges and off-chain venues host tens of millions of Tether customers.

In an interview with Fox Business, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino highlighted the role of developing countries in driving USDT user growth. According to Ardoino, the majority of users are buying USDT to hedge against inflation and weak monetary systems in their countries.

"Most of the users are coming from developing countries, where they are buying USDT to protect themselves against inflation and the monetary systems that are not working in their countries," said Ardoino.

Part of Tether's success in attracting users can be attributed to its presence and support on tier 1 blockchains, including Ethereum and the Binance Smart Chain. As noted by the company, Ethereum-based layer-2 networks contributed the most users this quarter.

Over the last year, Arbitrum and Polygon have played a crucial role in adding users to Tether's network. Among the L2s, Arbitrum led the way with 2.5 million users, followed by dYdX (1.2 million), Optimism (700,000), and Polygon (600,000).

Another chain that notably boosted Tether's user growth is Telegram's The Open Network (TON). As mentioned by Philip Gradwell of Tether, TON managed to add 3.3 million users in six months, which contributes to around 1% of all on-chain accounts.

"We had Arbitrum adding 2.5 million users, which is the highest among L2s. Then we have Dydx, Optimism, and Polygon, each adding over 500K users. Among L1s, TON added 3.3 million users in six months, which contributes to around 1% of all on-chain accounts," said Gradwell.

With an impressive user growth trajectory and a presence spanning a decade, Tether is now exploring new avenues to expand its reach and impact within the broader financial landscape.

The company is reportedly considering entering traditional finance through lending activities, a move that could further integrate CeFi and DeFi. Additionally, Tether has made several investments in startups, including Bitdeer, a crypto mining company, and Blackrock Neurotech.