According to BlockBeats, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced on social media on April 13 that the current circulation of USDT has reached 107.3 billion, making it the most commonly used digital dollar in many emerging markets. Hundreds of millions of people living in countries where the local currency is rapidly depreciating use it as a checking and savings account. Most of these individuals do not have bank accounts as their poverty levels do not attract the interest of the banking industry. This is a real-world use case for stablecoins.
In contrast, wealthy individuals use stablecoins in complex ways to purchase a variety of securities. In this scenario, USDT is merely a toy for the rich, who can easily wire money from one of their 15 bank accounts or show off to their friends how cool they are before the next golf game. This use case is entirely different from the one mentioned above. The popularity of USDT in emerging markets highlights the potential of digital currencies to provide financial services to those who are traditionally underserved by the banking sector.