• Tether (USDT) stablecoins started to sell off in Uniswap and Curve pools on Thursday morning, which caused traders to worry.
• USDT lost its peg to the U.S. dollar and dropped as low as $0.9968, according to CoinMarketCap data.
• Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino said that some traders may be trying to capitalize on the current market sentiment by selling USDT.
USD Selling on Curve, Uniswap Spooks Traders Amid Bitcoin Drop
Millions worth of tether (USDT) stablecoins appeared to be selling off on popular Uniswap and Curve pools Thursday morning, sparking early signs of concern among traders. USDT, which usually trades around $1, lost its peg to the U.S. currency and dropped as low as $0.9968 according to CoinMarketCap data.
Increased Preference for DAI and USDC Over Tether
USDT holdings on Curve’s popular ‘3pool’ have risen to over 72% as of Thursday morning, suggesting a sudden disbalance in favor of stablecoins USDC and DAI over USDT. Curve’s 3pool now holds over $300 million of USDT and nearly $55 million each of dai and usdc, showing an increased preference for these two stablecoins over tether tokens.
Capitalizing On General Market Sentiment
Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino suggested in a tweet that some traders could be looking to “capitalize on the general sentiment” in the broader crypto markets, which has dipped in the past 24 hours due to decreasing Bitcoin prices.. Ardoino said: “Markets are edgy these days, so it’s easy for attackers to capitalize on this general sentiment.”
Implosion Of Terra And Collapse Of FTX
Such sentiment was previously observed during Terra’s implosion last May and the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in November, as CoinDesk previously reported.
Ready To Redeem Any Amount
Ardoino concluded his statement by saying that Tether is ready for any amount that needs redeeming: “But at Tether we’re ready as always,” he said.”Let them come. We’re ready to redeem any amount.”