Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, lost $2 billion from its market cap in December amidst the challenges posed by the European Union’s new Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.
The MiCA regulation framework will take full effect from December 30, 2024.
Exchanges Delist USDT Ahead of MiCA
MiCA rules require stablecoin issuers to obtain certain licenses to operate in the European Union. Tether has apparently failed to meet MiCA’s stringent requirements, which could jeopardize its future in the jurisdiction.
Hence, European exchanges have begun delisting Tether’s USDT stablecoin in anticipation of the regulatory crackdown.
In response, according to CoinMarkCap, USDT’s market cap fell from $140.5 billion to $138 billion over the past week, the largest drop in a year of continuous growth.
USDT Market Cap. Source: CoinGecko
USDT, which is meant to be pegged 1-to-1 with the US dollar, was trading at $0.997 at press time, a two-year low for the stablecoin.
USDT Shakeup: Is There a Reason to Panic?
It appears there is a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) in the market around USDT’s legality in Europe once the MiCA rules are enforced.
However, it needs to be noted that holding USDT is not illegal under the new rules. USDT can be held in non-custodial wallets and even traded on decentralized exchanges.
The issue is that traders cannot use USDT on MiCA-compliant exchanges.
Crypto analyst Axel Bitblaze even suggested that the EU delisting won’t severely impact USDT. The analyst pointed out that 80% of USDT’s trading volume comes from Asia, dampening the EU’s blow.
This was further evidenced by the fact that USDT has only lost 1.4% of its market cap despite the raging FUD. USDT also continues to record higher trading volumes than all of the top 10 cryptocurrencies combined.
Moreover, Tether has been preparing for the regulatory crackdown by rolling back its EU operations and investing in MiCA-compliant stablecoins.
Analysts Calls Out FUD
Tether has faced similar FUD in the past as well. For instance, in 2022, FTX’s bankruptcy led to USDT losing its peg and falling as low as $0.93. The news followed BTC dropping below $16,000 and traders dumping altcoins in panic. However, two years later, Bitcoin has crossed the much anticipated $100,000 milestone.
More recently, in October, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US government was investigating Tether for violating sanctions and money laundering. This caused widespread panic in the market, with Bitcoin dropping by $2,000 shortly after.
Once the allegations were proven wrong by Tether’s CEO, the market began to rebound. Analyst Axel Bitblaze believes that the FUD around Tether should be treated as a buying opportunity, considering the above examples.
“Interestingly, you’ll either hear these FUDs at the pico bottom or during the full-blown bull run. Do one thing, take screenshots of crypto prices today and then wait till Feb/March 2025; you’ll see most of them trading way higher from their current levels. Not only that, USDT will still be the #1 stablecoin, and people will continue to call for its demise, which they’ve been calling for the past 7 years,” he said.
Blockchain executive Samson Mow echoed similar sentiments when he said,
“The time to FUD Tether was probably when it had less than $100 million AUM. Now with USDt at $143 billion AUM, a top 20 holder of US treasuries (more than all but 18 countries), banked by Cantor Fitzgerald (whose CEO is future Commerce Secretary of the USA), with 16x more volume than its nearest competitor (USDC), and serving a few hundred million users in the global south… You have to either be uninformed (Jason lol) or have an agenda,” Mow stated.
