Tether USDt tops salary payments and savings in EU in 2024 — Brighty
2025-01-22
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Tether USDt, the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization, was the most widely used currency for salary payments and savings on the European crypto banking platform Brighty in 2024, according to a new report.
Brighty’s “Crypto Earners’ Money Habits” report, shared with Cointelegraph, revealed that USDt (USDT) accounted for 85% of all crypto deposits on the platform.
The stablecoin also ranked as the second-largest savings asset after the euro, representing 33% of all business-to-customer (B2C) savings.
Brighty’s insights on money habits by crypto earners are based on data extracted from its user base of 200,000 users for 2024 and additional surveys of 400 crypto earners across the European Union.
Tron-based USDT is the winner
While USDT enjoyed overwhelming dominance among crypto earners, rival stablecoin USD Coin USDCUSD only accounted for 5% of all B2C deposits by earners on Brighty last year.
Bitcoin BTCUSD, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, saw a similar share of 5%.
According to Brighty’s data, TRC-20 USDT — USDT issued on the Tron blockchain — was the dominant stablecoin on the platform, accounting for more than 60% of overall USDT transactions on the platform.
The dominance of TRC-20 USDT is attributed to lower fees for transacting the stablecoin, as ERC-20 USDT — Ethereum-based USDT — has been associated with higher network fees.
The data aligns with Brighty’s survey results, as at least 70% of respondents cited lower transaction fees as a reason for using crypto for payments more frequently in the first place.
Brighty expects a “challenging transition to USDC”
Brighty’s data raises questions in the context of the European crypto framework known as Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), suggesting a potential massive switch in USDT’s dominance.
While Tether’s rival Circle received a MiCA license for issuing its USDC stablecoin last year, Tether has opposed some MiCA requirements, effectively distancing itself from compliance. As such, European crypto asset service providers (CASP) might have to restrict USDT as a noncompliant MiCA stablecoin, according to some industry observers.
“Historically, USDT represented more than half of all crypto utilized by users,” Brighty’s co-founder and chief technology officer, Nick Denisenko, told Cointelegraph, adding:
Brighty is a Swiss personal finance app that combines traditional digital banking experience with the benefits of stablecoins and decentralized finance. Its services include crypto exchange against numerous fiat currencies, particularly targeting global digital nomads, who are expected to reach 60 million by 2030.
As a European CASP, Brighty is working to obtain a MiCA license from local regulatory authorities, Denisenko said.