Tether USD (USDT) is the largest stablecoin by market capitalisation, issued by Tether and pegged one-to-one to the US dollar. Reserves are majority short-dated US Treasuries and repo disclosed in quarterly attestations, alongside a tail of higher-risk holdings (secured loans, Bitcoin and metals) and no full financial audit to date. Like any stablecoin it pays no native yield; returns come only from a wrapper such as an exchange earn programme or lending. USDT scores 64/100 (Tier 2) on the RWTS Trust Score: unmatched scale and liquidity, weaker transparency and not MiCA-authorised.
- Issuer / protocol
- Tether
- Jurisdiction
- El Salvador / BVIEl Salvador DASP (not MiCA-authorised)
- Backing
- U.S. Treasury bills, repo, cash & other reserves (Tether attestations)
- Redemption / lock-up
- None (direct 1:1 redemption $100k min; retail via exchanges)
- Audit & proof of reserves
- Not independently audited
- Availability
- Global
- Chain
- Ethereum
- Tier
- Tier 2 — Treasury & Fiat-Backed
- Contract
- 0xdAC1…1ec7
Scored on the published RWTS methodology (v1.1), reviewed quarterly and on material events. Ratings are independent and never pay-influenced.
Source: Quarterly BDO attestation. Point-in-time disclosure, not a live feed; weights move with issuance and policy.
Addresses verified against each chain's explorer. Per-chain supply is a daily DefiLlama snapshot. Native = canonical or natively issued; bridged = wrapped or messaged across.
Calculations are indicative. Actual yields may vary.
Price data from CoinGecko. Not financial advice.
Projections assume constant APY of 0.00%. Actual returns may vary. Not financial advice.
Beyond USDT's own score, two structural questions matter: what is it built on, and what has broken before in this part of the market. A high score in isolation can still carry hidden, shared exposure.
What this and similar assets are built on, and where contagion could spread.
The depegs, defaults, and exploits that inform the Track Record dimension.
Liquidity read: TVL of $184.07B indicates deep on-chain liquidity. Lock-up: None (direct 1:1 redemption $100k min; retail via exchanges).
Is USDT safe?
USDT (Tether USD) scores 64/100 on the independent RWTS Trust Score, which places it in Treasury & Fiat-Backed (Tier 2). Tier 2 is strong: institutional or fiat backing with solid verification, a notch below fully-reserved physical assets. Backing: U.S. Treasury bills, repo, cash & other reserves (Tether attestations). It is not independently audited, which weighs on the score. The score reflects backing, verification, redeemability, audit, regulatory standing, and track record, not headline yield. We rate. You decide.
Exit routes
13/15 · right 6/8 · routes 7/7If the issuer stopped cooperating tomorrow, could you get out?
Yes, by more than one independent route
- independent
everywhere
$50.8bn traded in 24h, the deepest on the board.
- issuer
Tether
Direct redemption is gated by issuer terms and minimums.
Route 7 on market depth alone. Right 6 because the issuer path is restricted.
This is the redeemability component of the Trust Score above, which stands at 64/100 (C+). Until 1 September 2026 redeemability was a single figure measuring the right to redeem while ignoring how many routes existed to exercise it. Splitting it moved this asset’s score. How the score works
Assessed 2026-09-01. Route independence asks how many ways out the issuer cannot close, not how much the asset trades.
Compare USDT
Head to head on the Trust Score with similar assets.