Tron (TRX) network surpasses Ethereum in Tether (USDT) supply

Stablecoin issuer Tether minted another 1 billion USDt tokens on Tron, pushing the network's authorized USDT supply to surpass Ethereum's.

Stablecoin issuer Tether has minted another 1 billion USDt tokens on Tron, pushing the network's authorized USDT supply to surpass Ethereum's.

On May 15, blockchain data showed that Tether's treasury minted $1 billion of its dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDt (USDT), into the Tron network.

As of May 14, Tether's stablecoin transparency page shows that Tron has a total of $73.7 billion in authorized USDT assets, while Ethereum has $74.5 billion in authorized USDT tokens. If the newly minted tokens are added to the number of authorized USDT assets, Tron's supply would surpass Ethereum's USDT supply.

In terms of circulating supply, Tron also has the lead with $73.6 billion USDT on the network, while Ethereum only has $71.8 billion.

However, if the new mint is added to the total circulating supply, then Ethereum still has the lead with $72.5 billion in circulating USDT, while Tron has $71.7 billion.

Tether's USDT mints replenish the company's token inventory

Some of the company's blockchain-based USDT mints are used to replenish their USDT inventory on blockchain networks, said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino previously on X. This means the tokens will be used for the next batch of issuance requests and chain swaps.

In traditional business settings, inventory replenishment requires stock orders to meet demands. Similarly, Tether may mint USDT to maintain a sufficient supply and hold on to the assets until they are issued officially. This ensures that the firm's liquidity management is smooth.

This means that authorized USDT supply on a network means that the stablecoin issuer anticipates future issuance demand of the stablecoin on a blockchain.

Ethereum and Tron battle for USDT supply dominance

Tron led USDT circulation between July 2022 and November 2024. However, CryptoQuant data showed that an $18 billion USDT mint on Ethereum pushed the network ahead in 2025.

However, Tron's USDT supply quickly caught up, with the latest mint putting it on top of Ethereum again.

According to Tether's transparency page, Solana has the third-most supply of USDT in the market, with $2.3 billion authorized on the network. Avalanche has $1.8 billion in authorized USDT, making it the fourth-largest network in authorized USDT supply. While Avalanche has over $1 billion in authorized USDT, the network only has a net circulation of $752 million in tokens.

Meanwhile, The Open Network, Aptos, Near, Celo and Cosmos have smaller authorized and circulating USDT supplies.

CoinGecko data shows that Tether's total circulation is at a record high of $150 million, a 9.4% increase compared to its supply at the start of 2025. This gives the stablecoin issuer 61% of all the USD stablecoins in the market.

Circle, its closest competitor, has $60.4 billion in stablecoins, giving it a market share of 24.6%, according to CoinGecko.