Tether joins BTC and ETH as its market caps goes above $10bn %

Bitcoin trades at $169 billion market cap and Ethereum at $25.4 billion, with the total crypto market valued at $258.8 billion. Tether's rapid ascent sent it past Ripple, which carries a $7.8 billion market cap. By dominance, USDT controls 3.5% compared to Bitcoin's 64.9%, Ethereum's 9.5%, and Ripple's 3.0%.

Messari analysts viewed the milestone as evidence of Tether's resilience. "USDT's staying power despite all its controversy over the years" is what matters, the analysts said. The company has faced persistent criticism over how it issues and burns tokens. When Tether releases new USDT into circulation, Bitcoin prices tend to spike at the same moment. Critics argue this pattern shows manipulation. Tether disputes the connection and says it creates tokens only when market demand exists for the stablecoin.

Bitcoin fell to $9,000 over the past week, with its market cap down 0.9%. Ethereum's price remained below $250 while its market cap gained 0.8%. Ethereum network activity accelerated. Traders moved significant capital into decentralized finance protocols, with Compound attracting particularly large amounts of locked funds. The network recorded more daily active addresses and more daily transactions. Gas fees spiked 26.4% in a single week. Average Ethereum network fees totaled $663,900 in the final week of June, more than double the $322,200 in average fees Bitcoin users paid during the same stretch.

CoinMarketCap data shows Tether's market cap at $9.2 billion rather than $10 billion, with the total crypto market valued at $260 billion.