stablecoin collateral asset
USDT
Tether USD is tracked as collateral exposure with issuer, redemption, deployment, and dependency assumptions separated from protocol-level findings.
partialhigh
Exposure
$6.20B
Mapped usage across reviewed markets.
Deployments
4
Ethereum
Controls
4
Issuer, admin, wrapper, and redemption controls.
Market usage
8
Protocol markets referencing this asset.
Asset facts
Typed fields that define the asset risk surface.
NameTether USD
IssuerTether
Typestablecoin
Canonical chainEthereum
BackingFiat-backed stablecoin with issuer transparency reporting and centralized control powers.
RedemptionIssuer-mediated redemption subject to account, jurisdiction, and minimum size constraints.
Review statuspartial
Deployments
Canonical chain and cross-chain deployment footprint.
| Chain | Role | Settlement | L2 stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | canonical | Ethereum L1 | Not applicable |
| Arbitrum One | deployment | Ethereum L1 | Stage 1 |
| OP Mainnet | deployment | Ethereum L1 | Stage 1 |
| Polygon PoS | deployment | Ethereum contracts + validator set | Not documented |
Protocol market exposure
Markets where this asset is accepted as collateral.
| Protocol | Market | Chain | LTV | Liquidation | Supply cap | Borrow cap | Utilization |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aave V3 | Arbitrum core pool | Arbitrum One | 75% | 81% | $3.40B | $2.10B | 72.0% |
| Curve | Stablecoin pools | Ethereum | 0% | 0% | $1.90B | $0 | 52.0% |
| Uniswap V3 | Major Ethereum pools | Ethereum | 0% | 0% | $2.40B | $0 | 57.0% |
| Ethena | USDe and sUSDe issuance | Ethereum | 0% | 0% | $4.40B | $0 | 77.0% |
| Frax Finance | FRAX stablecoin and lending | Ethereum | 72% | 78% | $900.0M | $520.0M | 63.0% |
| Silo | Arbitrum stable silos | Arbitrum One | 72% | 78% | $190.0M | $90.0M | 52.0% |
| Wormhole | Bridged asset routes | Ethereum | 0% | 0% | $900.0M | $0 | 64.0% |
| Across | Cross-chain bridge liquidity | Ethereum | 0% | 0% | $640.0M | $0 | 58.0% |
Risk findings
Asset-level assumptions with explicit evidence and outcome text.
| Severity | Dimension | Finding | Outcome | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| high | asset issuer | Issuer can freeze balances | Funds can be frozen. | Tether operates centralized token control functions across supported deployments. | |
| medium | operational transparency | Reserve transparency is off-chain | Redemption confidence depends on off-chain reporting. | Reserve and attestation processes are not observable entirely onchain. |
Dependency edges
Issuer, wrapper, backing, bridge, oracle, and protocol paths touching this asset.
| Severity | Direction | Edge type | Dependency path | Analyst label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | outbound | settles on | USDT -> Arbitrum One | USDT deployment inherits Arbitrum One chain assumptions |
| medium | outbound | settles on | USDT -> OP Mainnet | USDT deployment inherits OP Mainnet chain assumptions |
| medium | outbound | settles on | USDT -> Polygon PoS | USDT deployment inherits Polygon PoS chain assumptions |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Aave V3 -> USDT | Aave V3 Arbitrum core pool accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Curve -> USDT | Curve Stablecoin pools accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Uniswap V3 -> USDT | Uniswap V3 Major Ethereum pools accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Ethena -> USDT | Ethena USDe and sUSDe issuance accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Frax Finance -> USDT | Frax Finance FRAX stablecoin and lending accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | backs | USDe -> USDT | USDe hedge and collateral venues can reference USDT liquidity |
| low | outbound | settles on | USDT -> Ethereum | USDT deployment inherits Ethereum chain assumptions |
Blast radius
Highest-severity mapped paths that could propagate asset risk.
| Severity | Direction | Edge type | Dependency path | Analyst label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | outbound | settles on | USDT -> Arbitrum One | USDT deployment inherits Arbitrum One chain assumptions |
| medium | outbound | settles on | USDT -> OP Mainnet | USDT deployment inherits OP Mainnet chain assumptions |
| medium | outbound | settles on | USDT -> Polygon PoS | USDT deployment inherits Polygon PoS chain assumptions |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Aave V3 -> USDT | Aave V3 Arbitrum core pool accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Curve -> USDT | Curve Stablecoin pools accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Uniswap V3 -> USDT | Uniswap V3 Major Ethereum pools accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Ethena -> USDT | Ethena USDe and sUSDe issuance accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | accepts collateral | Frax Finance -> USDT | Frax Finance FRAX stablecoin and lending accepts USDT as collateral or core liquidity |
| medium | inbound | backs | USDe -> USDT | USDe hedge and collateral venues can reference USDT liquidity |
| low | outbound | settles on | USDT -> Ethereum | USDT deployment inherits Ethereum chain assumptions |