- Paolo Ardoino published a post announcing a new USDT competitor.
- It may refer to FDUSD. Binance announced that it will trade the zero-commission stablecoin on August 3, 2023.
- Ardoino stressed that the “drawdown” of USDT and USDC against this backdrop looks strange.
CTO of Tether Paolo Ardoino published a provocative post on social network X (formerly Twitter). In it, he reflected on why the USDT and USDC, the largest stablecoins in the market, are falling while a certain “newcomer” is rising:
“Isn’t it interesting that the USDT is under pressure (slightly, just within 10 basis points to prompt market makers to act), yet the USDC, the main competitor that should benefit from the situation, is also sagging. Meanwhile, everyone gets a sudden newcomer who showed up just 2 days ago. It’s perfectly normal and not manipulative at all. There’s no way some people will learn.”
Notably, Ardoino did not point directly to Binance. However, that same “competitor that appeared two days ago” could be FDUSD, as the platform had previously listed the stablecoin.
The statement from Tether’s CTO comes amid news from Binance of FDUSD trading with zero fees. As such, users suspected that Ardoino was hinting at this particular asset and exchange.
Reminder, FDUSD is a stablecoin from Hong Kong-based company First Digital. It appeared on the platform at the end of July 2023. At the time of writing, the daily trading volume for this position exceeds $31 million, according to CoinMarketCap.
Since August 2, 2023, the asset’s capitalization has increased from $20.2 million to $261.6 million, according to CoinMarketCap:
Over the same period, USDT’s capitalization has decreased from $83.88 billion to $83.8 billion, according to CoinMarketCap:
The USDT