Tether surpasses XRP by market cap again

Tether (UDST), the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization, has again surpassed major altcoin XRP.

On Sept. 1, Tether surpassed XRP as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, becoming the second-largest altcoin after Ether (ETH).

As of press time, USDT market cap accounts for more than $13.4 billion, according to data from crypto analytics website Coin360. XRP is now the fourth-largest coin by market cap at $13 billion.

The latest movement in ranking is not new to the crypto market in 2020. Tether surpassed XRP as the third-largest crypto in May 2020.

Both cryptocurrencies have significantly increased their market cap since then. As reported, Tether previously surpassed XRP at a market cap of about $8.8 billion, while XRP’s market cap accounted for $8.6 billion at the time.

XRP’s drop comes shortly after a senior Ripple exec claimed that XRP is not competing with stablecoins. On Aug. 19, Emi Yoshikawa, senior director of global operations at Ripple, argued that XRP does not compete with either stablecoins or central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

According to Yoshikawa, XRP is complementary to the global progress in stablecoin and CBDC development. “We believe that various stablecoins and CBDCs will create synergy by responding to the liquidity problem by bridging independent crypto assets, XRP,” the executive said.

Tether’s new market cap milestones come amid massive growth in stablecoins this year. Both Tether and USD Coin (USDC) have been hitting major milestones recently, with USDC breaking $1 billion in July 2020.

Opposed to highly volatile crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC), stablecoins like USDT are designed to provide a digital representation of fiat currencies like USD and ensure a “stable” price. Pegged to the USD one-to-one, Tether’s price is always equivalent to one U.S. dollar.

Providing a “stable” cryptocurrency, Tether is the largest cryptocurrency in terms of daily transaction volume. As of press time, Tether’s daily trading volume accounts for over $10 billion, outstripping Bitcoin’s $9.5 billion, according to data from Coin360. As reported, Tether is also bigger than major payment processor PayPal in terms of average daily transfer volume.