Ryo Collins, one of the founders of Tether, plans to launch a decentralized stablecoin that will compete with USDT, the dollar-backed stablecoin in which Tether played a role in developing. This move could bring a new phase of competition in the stablecoin market. According to Bloomberg, Collins is currently leading a project called Pi Protocol (PI); a decentralized stablecoin project set to launch on the Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) blockchains this year. Pi Protocol uses smart contracts to generate the USP stablecoin in exchange for the USI yield token. It is said that the stablecoin will be backed by bonds and other real assets. Although the name of this stablecoin suggests a connection to the US dollar, precise details about the supporting currency or fiat currencies have not been released yet. Collins and his team founded Tether in 2014, which issues the USDT stablecoin. A year later, they sold the company’s shares to the managers of the Bitfinex exchange. Since then, the market value of USDT has increased from less than one billion dollars to 142 billion dollars. Prior to introducing Pi Protocol, Collins stated that yield-generating assets could attract more investors to the market. Pi Protocol enters a market where giants like Tether, USD Coin (USDC) by Circle, USD Coin (USDe) by Ethena, and DAI are present. According to DeFiLlama data, the total value of stablecoins in circulation currently exceeds 225 billion dollars. Earlier this year, USD Coin surpassed Tether in growth. Additionally, USD Coin by Ethena managed to surpass DAI and become the third-largest stablecoin by market value. By providing liquidity and increasing transaction speed, stablecoins have become a key player in the cryptocurrency market. These assets have also become a popular option for international transfers. According to a recent report by ARK Invest, the transaction value of stablecoins is estimated to reach 15.6 trillion dollars by 2024, surpassing Visa and Mastercard transaction volumes. Visit the digital currencies price page to track the live prices of all tokens and cryptocurrencies in real-time.
