Tether said in its fourth-quarter 2025 report that USDT’s market capitalization reached $187.3 billion, up $12.4 billion during the quarter. The company also reported record highs in monthly active on-chain users, transfer count, and transfer value, while estimated total users posted an increase of more than 30 million for the eighth straight quarter.
The report placed those figures against a weaker market backdrop after the crypto liquidation chain reaction on October 10, 2025. From October 10, 2025 to February 1, 2026, total crypto market capitalization fell by more than one-third, while USDT’s market cap still grew 3.5%. Over the same period, the second- and third-largest stablecoins saw their market caps decline 2.6% and 57%, respectively.
Reserves rose to $192.9 billion
Tether’s total reserves increased by $11.7 billion in Q4 to $192.9 billion, with net assets at $6.3 billion. Reserve holdings included 96,184 BTC and 127.5 metric tons of gold. During the quarter, Tether added 9,850 BTC and 21.9 metric tons of gold.
Its total exposure to U.S. Treasuries increased by $6.5 billion to $141.6 billion. Tether said that if it were treated as a country, that Treasury position would rank 18th globally, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Germany. For the full year, the company said it added $28.2 billion in U.S. Treasuries.
User growth and wallet expansion continued
Tether estimated that total USDT users increased by 35.2 million in the fourth quarter to 534.5 million. That figure combines two groups: on-chain wallet users and estimated recipients of USDT on centralized service platforms such as crypto exchanges.
On-chain wallets holding USDT increased by 14.7 million in the quarter to 139.1 million, the largest quarterly increase on record. Those wallets accounted for 70.7% of all stablecoin-holding wallets. Tether also estimated that more than 100 million users hold USDT through centralized platforms outside the on-chain wallet count.
By holder profile, “strict savers” made up 30.8%, “savers” 6.7%, and “transactors” 62.6%. The combined share of saver-type holders in USDT stood at 37.5%, compared with 30% across other stablecoins as a group. Among all stablecoin saver wallets, 75.1% held USDT.
On-chain usage and transfer value reached new highs
Average monthly active on-chain users for USDT climbed to 24.8 million in Q4 2025, accounting for 68.4% of all stablecoin monthly active users. Tether defined this group as wallets that received USDT at least once within a rolling 30-day period.
Quarterly on-chain transfer value rose by $248.6 billion to a record $4.4 trillion. Of that total, $2.8 trillion, or 63.6%, came from transfers involving only USDT. Another $1.6 trillion, or 36.4%, came from transfers involving multiple assets, which the report associated mainly with DeFi swap activity.
Transfer count also set a record. USDT registered 2.2 billion on-chain transfers in the quarter, up by 313.1 million. Transactions below $1,000 represented 1.94 billion transfers, or 88.2% of the total. Transfers between $1,000 and $100,000 reached 256 million, while transfers above $100,000 totaled 4.6 million.
CEX share increased while DeFi holdings fell
By the end of the quarter, 36% of USDT holdings were located on centralized exchanges, up 2.8 percentage points from the end of Q3. Tether linked part of that shift to a decline in USDT balances on DEX and DeFi platforms after the October 10 liquidation event. Holdings in those venues fell by $3 billion in Q4 to $7.1 billion, equal to 3.8% of total USDT holdings.
Saver-type users accounted for 33% of holdings and held $62.1 billion worth of USDT at quarter end. Transactor-type users represented 26.5% of holdings and added $2.2 billion during the quarter. The report said those figures show continued demand for USDT both as a store-of-value stablecoin and as a transaction medium.
Spot market share climbed to 61.5%
On centralized exchanges, USDT spot trading volume totaled $3.2 trillion in Q4 2025. Of that amount, 96.5% involved USDT as the quoted asset. USDT spot volume fell 5.9% from the previous quarter after the October 10 liquidation wave, but the broader market declined more sharply, with total spot volume for all other assets down 11.5%. As a result, USDT’s share of total spot market volume increased by 1.5 percentage points to 61.5%.
USDT spot trade count reached 14.1 billion for the quarter, accounting for 80% of all spot trades. Tether said the analysis was based on on-chain data covering 75 stablecoins across 15 blockchains, with data sourced from Chainalysis and Artemis.