Tether Co-Founder Launches Decentralized Stablecoin

Tether co-founder Reeve Collins is launching a decentralized stablecoin, USP, aiming to compete with USDT in the crowded stablecoin market dominated by Tether and USDC.

Project Overview

The USP stablecoin will debut on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains in the second half of 2025, as reported by Bloomberg. The project will utilize smart contracts to mint USP, allowing minters to earn yields through another token called USI.

Competing With Tether

USP will be backed by yield-bearing real-world assets like bonds and over-collateralized with Treasuries and money-market funds. Collins sees Pi Protocol as an evolution in stablecoins, emphasizing that unlike Tether, which retains all the yields, their model will evolve the market.

> “Tether has been extremely successful in showcasing demand for stablecoins. But they keep all the yield. We believe 10 years later the market is really ready to evolve,” Collins remarked.

Collins, who was CEO of Tether from 2013 to 2015, noted that when they sold Tether to Bitfinex, its market value was under $1 billion, while now it approaches $140 billion.

Strategic Approach

Pi’s CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar highlighted the importance of non-correlated, mid- to high-yield, low-risk assets.

> “We have a mechanism that assesses the quality of the asset. They are ones that are vetted on their loss ratio and origination of where they are coming from,” he explained.

Also, amid evolving regulations, the yield-bearing stablecoin market is expected to grow significantly.

Regulatory Landscape

With the election of US President Donald Trump, stablecoins received a favorable regulatory outlook, spurring their adoption.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong aims to make USDC the leading stablecoin, although he admits the goal is ambitious.

Market Share

The stablecoin market is highly competitive, with Tether holding a 60% market share of around $141 billion, followed by Circle’s USDC at 24% and USDS (formerly DAI) at nearly 4%.