Tether Briefly Dethrones Ethereum As Crypto's No. 2 Asset
Tether (USDT) briefly surpassed Ethereum (ETH) as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization on Friday, after a sharp selloff sent ETH to its lowest price of $1,510.
The market cap of USDT rose to near $186 billion, slightly above that of ETH at roughly $185 billion. This shift followed a 5.2% drop in ETH's value over the past 24 hours, according to data from Coinbase.
However, ETH quickly reclaimed its second-place position near $189 billion within hours as dip buyers returned to the market.
The rotation of assets was attributed by analysts to a 'textbook flight to safety' in response to the downturn. Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, noted that deeper stablecoin liquidity tends to support higher trading volumes and broader innovation across the market.