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

Coinbase Pro, the crypto exchange owned by the newly public Coinbase Global Inc COIN, has announced that it will list crypto stablecoin Tether (USDT).

What Happened: USDT has its value pegged to the value of the U.S dollar and is the largest stablecoin by market cap.

Although it operates on a number of blockchains, Coinbase Pro says it will only support the ERC-20 USDT running on the Ethereum blockchain.

Trading is set to begin "on or after 6 PM Pacific Time on Monday, April 26," subject to the liquidity conditions being met.

Why It Matters: With over $49 billion in market cap, USDT forms the backbone of the majority of crypto trading as it is the most common trading pair on several exchanges. Despite its status as the number one stablecoin, USDT has been the subject of controversy for a number of years.

Tether Limited, the company behind USDT, was the subject of a New York Attorney General (NYAG) inquiry in 2019.

NYAG Letitia James obtained a court order against Tether and affiliated crypto exchange Bitfinex for the alleged cover-up of an $850 million loss.

Tether was also under scrutiny regarding whether USDT was actually backed one-for-one by the U.S dollar.

Earlier this year, the inquiry ended in an $18.5 million settlement with Tether admitting no wrongdoing and agreeing to provide quarterly reports on its reserves.

See also: How to Buy Tether (USDT)

Coinbase’s decision to list the stablecoin may serve to dispel any Tether FUD that still remains in the market, as well as provide more arbitrage opportunities to traders.

Price Action: Tether (USDT) was trading at $0.99 at press time. The trading volume increased by more than 45% after the announcement.