Coinbase Pro Lists Controversial Crypto Stablecoin Tether: What You Need To Know

Coinbase Pro Lists Controversial Crypto Stablecoin Tether: What You Need To Know

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) – Chinese companies are listing in the U.S. at the fastest pace ever, brushing off tensions between the world’s two biggest economies and the continued risk of being kicked off American exchanges.Firms from the mainland and Hong Kong have raised $6.6 billion through initial public offerings in the U.S. this year, a record start to a year and an eightfold increase from the same period in 2020, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The largest IPO is the $1.6 billion listing of e-cigarette maker RLX Technology Inc., followed by the $947 million offering of software company Tuya Inc.That’s even as Sino-U.S. tensions show few signs of easing and the threat of Chinese firms being delisted from U.S. exchanges remains. In fact, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said last month it would begin implementing a law forcing accounting firms to let U.S. regulators review the financial audits of overseas companies. Non-compliance could result in a delisting from the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.The risk for mainland firms is high given China has long refused to let U.S. regulators examine audits of its overseas-listed companies on national security concerns.“They would acknowledge this is a potential risk, and if something happens they might need to get prepared for a rainy day,” said Stephanie Tang, head of private equity for Greater China at law firm Hogan Lovells. “But the risk itself would not prohibit those companies from going to the U.S., at least in the second half of this year or probably toward next year.”Despite all the risks, the pipeline continues to grow, setting up 2021 to potentially exceed last year. Chinese firms raised almost $15 billion through U.S. IPOs in 2020, the second highest on record after 2014, when e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. fetched $25 billion in its float.Didi Chuxing has filed confidentially for a multi-billion-dollar U.S. IPO that could value the Chinese ride-hailing giant at as much as $100 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. Uber-like trucking startup Full Truck Alliance is also working on a U.S. listing this year that could raise about $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said, requesting not to be named because the matter is private.“Chinese companies in the new economy do not seem to have been deterred from seeking U.S. listings despite the ongoing tensions,” said Calvin Lai, a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. “They take that as one of the risks but that doesn’t tilt the pendulum.”Additional share sales by Chinese companies have also been well-received in the U.S. this year, delivering an average return of 11% from their offering prices in the following session, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.And while rival financial centers like Hong Kong have in recent years changed their listing rules to make it easier for new economy firms to go public there, that has not stopped the flow of firms going stateside. In fact, the traffic now goes both ways, with U.S.-traded Chinese firms getting a second listing in Hong Kong to expand their investor base and as a hedge against the delisting risk.Such secondary listings raised almost $17 billion last year and have fetched over $8 billion this year already, Bloomberg data show. Bankers said many companies go to the U.S. knowing they can subsequently list in Hong Kong.For example, Didi is also exploring a potential dual offering in Hong Kong later, a person familiar with the matter has said, while Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng Inc. is also looking into a share sale in the financial hub less than a year after going public in New York.To be sure, it’s not all plain sailing for everyone. TikTok parent ByteDance Ltd.’s IPO plans have been put on hold as it seeks to comply with regulatory demands from both China and the U.S., the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. The world’s most valuable startup is struggling to find a business structure that satisfies both Beijing and Washington, the report said, with the separation of Douyin, the domestic version of TikTok, from its global peer posing a particular challenge.U.S. capital markets have long attracted Chinese companies for a number of reasons: their greater liquidity, broader investor base, and the cachet associated with a U.S. listing. Technology and fintech firms have flocked to the U.S. because of its more streamlined process as well as greater openness to loss-making businesses.“The U.S. still remains a magnet for the IPOs of Chinese technology companies,” Tang said. “Just in terms of the pipeline, I don’t see any pause to that. I think the pipeline is very strong.”(Updates with ByteDance IPO plans in third last paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Coinbase Pro Announces Listing of Stablecoin Tether (USDT)

Coinbase, the US-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced support for stablecoin Tether (USDT) and mentioned that the trading of USDT will start on Coinbase Pro from Monday 26 April. Trading will be available in the company’s supported jurisdictions.

According to the official announcement, Coinbase is only supporting ERC-20 USDT running on the Ethereum blockchain. Coinbase Pro users are now allowed to transfer Tether (USDT) into their accounts ahead of the trading.

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Tether is the most valuable stablecoin in the world. The cryptocurrency currently has a market cap of approximately $50 billion. USDT is the 4th most valuable digital currency in the world. The total market cap of Tether has surged significantly since the start of this year.

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“Starting immediately, we will begin accepting inbound transfers of Tether (USDT) to Coinbase Pro. Trading will begin on or after 6 PM Pacific Time (PT) Monday, April 26, if liquidity conditions are met. Please note that Coinbase only supports ERC-20 USDT. Once sufficient supply of USDT is established on the platform, trading on our BTC-USDT, ETH-USDT, USDT-EUR, USDT-GBP, USDT-USD and USDT-USDC order books will launch in three phases, post-only, limit-only and full trading,” Coinbase mentioned in the official announcement.

Coinbase Listing

The American cryptocurrency exchange is one of the largest digital exchanges in the world. Coinbase recently went public through a direct listing on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol of COIN. The shares of the company jumped nearly 30% on its debut but saw a correction in the following days. According to the closing price of Thursday, COIN shares dropped below $300. The cryptocurrency exchange reported a significant jump in trading volumes during Q1 of 2021. The company also reported total revenues of approximately $1.8 billion during the first three months of 2021.

The recent Tether support from Coinbase came after the company expanded its product offering with the addition of several digital currencies, including Ampleforth Governance Token (FORTH), Enjin Coin (ENJ), NKN (NKN), Origin Token (OGN), Ankr (ANKR) Curve DAO Token (CRV), Storj (STORJ) and Cardano (ADA).

Tether’s market cap hits $50B as stablecoin adoption grows

The market capitalization of Tether (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin, zipped past $50 billion on Monday, in a sign that the cryptocurrency bull market was still heating up.

Tether Operations Limited confirmed the milestone on Friday, with roughly 50 billion USDT now reported to be in circulation. Tether’s supply, and hence its market cap, has grown by more than a factor of 10 over the last 12 months. That includes 25% growth in the span of a month.

As a dollar-backed stablecoin, one USDT is equivalent to $1 in assets held by Tether.

“Crossing a market cap of US$50 billion represents an incredibly important milestone for Tether,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether. He continued:

“Tether’s success is a blueprint for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and a banking system of the future. We are truly humbled by the pivotal role that Tether now plays in the digital token ecosystem across myriad protocols and applications.”

USDT enjoys a unique position in the cryptocurrency community. As the first stablecoin to be issued, USDT is now the most liquid and widely used dollar peg on the market. On several exchanges, USDT remains one of the top quote currencies for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethere (ETH) trading pairs.

At the time of writing, USDT accounted for roughly 66.1% of the overall stablecoin market. USD Coin, the next largest stablecoin, is worth less than $11 billion.

The stablecoin issuer has been the center of speculation about its reserves, with some crypto observers commenting that Tether disinformation has been a major source of fear, uncertainty and doubt in the community. Tether appears to have laid those concerns to rest after an assurance report from Cayman Islands-based Moore Cayman confirmed that USDT tokens are fully backed by reserves.

The assurance report, which isn’t the same as an audit, came a month after Tether settled an $18.5 million fine with the Office of the New York Attorney General. As part of the settlement, Tether agreed to produce periodic filings proving its reserve status.