Tether's US-regulated stablecoin USAT hit $140.8 million in circulating supply as of April 30, 2026 - a 540% jump in a single month - according to an attestation report signed by Deloitte and published Thursday. The figure landed May 28, 2026 at 6:53 PM ET via CoinDesk reporting on the document. Reserve assets backing USAT climbed to $141.2 million from $22.2 million in March, with circulating supply rising from $22 million.
The growth rate looks dramatic. The scale does not. USDC, Circle's federally regulated dollar token, carries a market cap of roughly $76 billion. At $140.8 million, USAT is less than 0.2% of that. PayPal's PYUSD sits at about $5.5 billion. Ripple's RLUSD, which launched in December 2024, has already grown to roughly $1.7 billion. Tether's own flagship token, USDT, holds a market cap near $189 billion globally - meaning USAT is also less than 0.1% of what Tether itself has built everywhere else.
USAT debuted in January 2026, issued by Anchorage Digital, the federally chartered crypto bank that Tether partnered with specifically to compete in the US regulated market. The GENIUS Act - which created the first federal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins - opened the door. Tether needs it: USDT is largely locked out of the US institutional market because of its offshore structure and ongoing scrutiny of its reserve practices. USAT is the bridgehead.
Bo Hines, CEO of Tether USAT, framed the April numbers around institutional demand. "The growth reflects increased use across institutional treasury operations, settlement flows, and regulated dollar liquidity management," he said. "The broader policy environment is moving in the right direction, and USAT is already operating in the kind of structure that institutions are asking for."
The structural problem is that 540% growth off a $22 million base is different from 540% growth off $1 billion. USDC has years of regulatory trust, deep exchange integrations, and institutional relationships Tether has not had access to domestically. RLUSD, still under two years old, is already 12 times larger than USAT. For Tether to matter in the US regulated stablecoin race, the growth curve needs to look like this for several more consecutive months - not just one.
The Deloitte attestation covers April 30 balances. The next report will show whether April was a real demand inflection or a single institutional onboarding event that flatters the percentage without moving the competitive needle.