The stable Tether crypto coin has had more than its fair\nshare of unwanted attention over the past year. Those woes could deepen as\nrecent reports have revealed that a very small number of people control a very\nlarge amount of USDT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has been well reported that Bitcoin whales collectively own a fifth of the world\u2019s largest digital asset but new findings are revealing that Tether holdings may be even more concentrated. A recent Bloomberg report<\/a> citing research by Coin Metrics claims that just over 300 crypto addresses own over 80% of the USDT supply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tether<\/a>\nhas been embroiled in controversy since its launch four years ago yet the\nprinters keep rolling more off the digital presses. Many top crypto exchanges\nhave likened the coin and its few heavy bag holders to a digital mafia. Finance\nprofessor at University of Texas, John Griffin, told Bloomberg; <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe concentration of Tether suggests that control of Tether is in the hands of a few central players who can swing Bitcoin prices, and have a vested interest in doing so. It also suggests that many exchange players have a vested interest in keeping the Tether game going.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n According to Massachusetts based analytics firm, Coin Metrics, just 318 addresses that hold $1 million or more of Tether. Research only included tokens on the OMNI and Ethereum blockchains. At an estimated 80% of the total supply this equates to around $3.2 billion in USDT. In comparison more than 19,000 Bitcoin addresses have balances of at least $1 million, according to BitInfoCharts.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This concentrated ownership of Tether raises the risk of market manipulation for Bitcoin prices since a large number of transactions are now conducted in USDT. According to Coinmarketcap.com<\/a> around 46% of its total volume in BTC transactions is made with Tether. <\/p>\n\n\n\n