Tether is planning to increase transparency on its stablecoin usage through a new hire.
According to a July 15 announcement, Philip Gradwell, formerly chief economist at Chainalysis, has been appointed as the company’s head of economics. Gradwell will be in charge of quantifying and communicating Tether’s USDT (USDT) usage to regulators and stakeholders.
After six years at blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, Gradwell will now examine USDT data worldwide. Since 2017, USDT has seen daily trading volumes in the billions of dollars. The stablecoin’s volume over the past 24 hours was $32.23 billion, according to Messari data.
“Many people still view digital assets as a mystery, partly due to the industry’s focus on technology rather than practical use cases,” Gradwell said in a statement, adding that his goal at Tether is “to shift this conversation towards understanding how digital assets are used in the real economy, and how USDT is supporting dollar hegemony.”
US-Tether cooperation
Among Gradwell’s duties will be engaging with regulators, especially in the United States. Tether’s relationship with federal agencies in the country has been marked by a mix of cooperation and scrutiny.
In February 2021, Tether and its sister company, Bitfinex, settled with the New York Attorney General for $18.5 million over allegations that Tether misrepresented the amount of fiat collateral backing its tokens. As part of the settlement, Tether agreed to provide quarterly reports on its reserves for two years and was banned from operating in New York.
One of the company’s recent moves toward government cooperation has been onboarding the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to its platform. In March, Tether also helped the US Department of Justice recover approximately $1.4 million in stolen USDT from an unhosted digital wallet.
According to Tether, Gradwell will be instrumental in “enhancing communication with regulatory bodies and stakeholders.”
Government scrutiny of the crypto industry over the past few years has boosted USDT’s market share. The stablecoin now has a 69% dominance in the market, followed by Circle’s stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC). According to data from DefiLlama, USDT’s current market capitalization is at $112 billion.
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