USDT Supply on Crypto Exchanges Has Reached a Record Level – What Is the Reason?

As of August 13, Tether (USDT) balances on crypto exchanges reached a record high of $20.339 billion, signaling that investors may be preparing to channel them into other cryptocurrencies ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's upcoming interest rate decision in September.

This surge in Tether’s reserves followed the issuance of $1 billion in USDT from Tether’s vault on the Ethereum network.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino explained that the transaction was an “inventory replenishment,” meaning that the tokens were reserved for future issuance requests rather than being immediately put into circulation.

Data from Tether’s transparency page shows that $941.72 million in USDT was “authorized but unissued” on Ethereum as of August 14, indicating that approximately $60 million of it from the recent issuance has already entered circulation.

This reflects strong demand for USDT in anticipation of upcoming market movements.