In honor of its tenth anniversary, Tether will release a documentary about USDT and its impact on fighting inflation.
The documentary “Stability and Freedom in Chaos” tells the story of how USDT became a “lifeline” for those fighting inflation and promoting “financial freedom around the world.”
🎬Today is the 10th anniversary of USD₮!
To celebrate this, we will soon release our documentary ‘Stability and Freedom in Chaos’.
Dive into the journey of how $USDT It has become a lifeline for millions of people, fighting inflation and fueling financial freedom around the world. 🌎🤝 pic.twitter.com/oviKmIgpgx
— Tether (@Tether_to) 6 October 2024
Commenting on the release of the documentary, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino claimed that the company’s mission is to provide access to finance to billions of people without bank accounts in developing countries.
“Tether built its company on a simple mission: to bring financial inclusion to billions of people, primarily those living in developing countries, who are unbanked (because they cannot generate enough revenue for the traditional banking sector) or cannot live stream. In countries with high inflation.”
For him, Tether has become “a symbol of disintermediation, sustainability, and stability” that helps empower “individuals, communities, cities, and entire countries.”
10 years towards financial freedom
In 2014, Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins and Craig Sellars founded the Realcoin project, later known as Tether. The main idea was to create a digital currency pegged to fiat money to provide stable value and simplify cryptocurrency trading.
In October 2014, USDT was introduced as a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Since then, Tether has been actively working to expand its ecosystem. Later, USDT was launched on the Ethereum, TRON and TON blockchains, allowing the tokens to be used on various decentralized platforms.
Additionally, USDT has been widely integrated into various dapps and smart contracts, strengthening its role in decentralized finance.
USDT has become a must-have coin for key areas in crypto and blockchain
Tether has quickly become a popular currency for investors as it allows them to access stable funds during times of high volatility in the crypto market. It has been integrated into many cryptocurrency exchanges, increasing their liquidity.
Tether and its stability have greatly influenced the development of the crypto market, allowing traders and investors to quickly move funds between cryptocurrencies and fiat without huge losses due to price fluctuations.
Throughout its history, Tether has remained the main stablecoin actively used in the crypto space. In the decade since its launch, USDT has reached a market cap of almost $120 billion, making it one of the largest cryptocurrencies ever.
Tether’s market cap | Source: CoinMarketCap A lifeline for developing countries
Commenting on the release of the documentary, Ardoino said that USDT has become “a symbol of disintermediation, resilience and stability.” The film explores the adoption of USDT in three countries: Argentina, Türkiye and Brazil.
Why these countries? There are many reasons for this, but they all have one factor in common: economic instability.
These countries face high inflation and instability in their national currencies. Additionally, developing countries often need greater access to traditional banking services. Cryptocurrencies like Tether allow people to make financial transactions without a bank, which is especially important in countries with low banking literacy.
Argentina, for example, faces economic problems such as high inflation, devaluation of its national currency, the peso, and restrictions on foreign exchange transactions. People are looking for ways to protect their savings, and cryptocurrencies can be an alternative. The country’s new president, Javier Milei, has also supported the use of BTC along with other payment units as part of his strategy to promote free competition in the local currency market.
A similar situation is happening in Turkey, where people face economic instability such as high inflation and depreciation of the lira. Cryptocurrencies are also seen as a way to protect savings from inflation.
Besides economic problems, a significant number of people in Brazil do not have access to banking services. USDT allows these people to participate in the financial system and make transactions without opening a bank account.
Thus, USDT became a major asset in trading within a decade and a popular alternative to the dollar; It has given people in developing countries access to the crypto market, allowing them to invest, trade and make payments.
Despite its success, there are still many uncertain moments in Tether’s history
But there are still dark moments in Tether’s history. In the past, Tether has faced criticism for possible market manipulation and possibly supporting the prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.
Additionally, although Tether claims that each USDT is backed by one US dollar, many critics point to the lack of regular, independent audits that could verify this claim. This raises questions about how safe and liquid the reserve is and whether these assets can provide full collateral for USDT.