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Tether's USDT briefly overtook Ethereum in market capitalisation on February 13, touching roughly $187B before settling back below ETH's float. Bloomberg senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone framed the flip as the leading edge of a longer trend, arguing USDT is on track to eventually surpass both Ethereum and Bitcoin in standing within the crypto complex.
Why it matters
The crossing is the cleanest data point yet for the thesis that stablecoins have outgrown the category of "crypto-adjacent utility tokens" and become the second-largest asset class in digital assets by capitalisation. ETH remains the dominant non-stablecoin smart-contract asset, but its float is increasingly competing for the same investor attention with USDT's settlement-layer role rather than with other L1s.
Market impact
McGlone's "flippening" framing is provocative, but the directional read is the investable one: dollar-denominated tokens are absorbing a growing share of on-chain liquidity that previously sat in ETH treasuries and DeFi yield positions. The brief flip above ETH is the headline moment; the underlying capital migration into stablecoins is the structural story that follows it.
Frequently asked questions
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Did USDT actually surpass Ethereum in market cap?
Yes, briefly. USDT touched roughly $187B on February 13 before settling back below ETH's float, so the flip lasted only a day but the crossing was real.
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What did Mike McGlone say about USDT vs ETH and BTC?
The Bloomberg senior commodity strategist said USDT is on track to eventually surpass both Ethereum and Bitcoin in standing within the crypto complex, framing the brief flip as a leading-edge data point.
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Why does the USDT-ETH market cap crossover matter?
It formalises the structural shift toward stablecoins as the second-largest crypto asset class and signals that ETH's float is now competing with USDT's settlement role, not just with other L1s.
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Is USDT bigger than Bitcoin now?
No. USDT briefly touched Ethereum's level, not Bitcoin's. McGlone argued USDT could eventually surpass both, but on February 13 BTC remained well above USDT in market capitalisation.
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What capital shift does this reflect?
A growing share of on-chain liquidity is migrating from ETH treasuries and DeFi yield positions into dollar-denominated stablecoins, with USDT absorbing the largest single share of that flow.
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