Tether USDt (USDT)

$USDT Dominance - Update

Another leg down coming, but to me this will only be short term, so more downside on Crypto expected https://t.co/NjKBxBwLEV

Even Tether's own co‑founder has started to “reflect” on this business.

Reeve Collins, as a co‑founder of Tether, says this quite bluntly. He breaks down Tether's profit model: Tether takes the dollars deposited by users, invests them in U.S. Treasury bonds with a current yield of about 3%‑4%, and keeps all that profit for itself. Users receive only a dollar liquidity that can circulate quickly worldwide, but they get none of the interest generated by their assets.

This simple and ruthless mechanism is exactly why Tether has become the market dominant, earning $1.04 billion in a quarter—the interest from the $141 billion of U.S. Treasury holdings reported in its financials goes entirely to Tether.

But Collins' view is that this “platform‑absorbing‑all‑profits” structure is precisely what needs to change in the stablecoin 2.0 era. In other words, he hints at the next‑generation stablecoin's competitive edge—returning a portion of Treasury bond yields to users.

These words coming from a Tether co‑founder are somewhat subtle. On one hand, he indeed exposes a core industry issue: why should users provide money and bear trust risk while the issuer takes all the returns? On the other hand, Collins is now working on another project, so this “reflection” also serves to pave the way for his new direction.

Nevertheless, the trend itself is real. The yield‑bearing stablecoins we discussed earlier—Saylor’s STRC and 3Jane’s USD3—essentially aim to do the same thing: make stablecoins not only “non‑depreciating dollars” but also “interest‑earning dollars.” Whoever can handle profit distribution well may capture a spot in stablecoin 2.0.

In the latter part, Collins also shares a few personal investment views: distinguish between “investment” and “speculation”; get into the AI infrastructure layer early rather than building applications on top; hold Bitcoin long‑term as a core allocation. These are fairly mainstream opinions today—just worth listening to, as everyone’s stance differs.

The key takeaway: In the second half of the stablecoin story, the battle may no longer be about “who is safer or more liquid,” but about “who is willing to share Treasury bond interest with users.” Tether sits on the throne by monopolizing profits, while challengers plan to carve a slice out of the cake.