• The Bitcoin price rally to 9.000 USD was accompanied by the minting of new Tether (USDT).
• Before the rise, when Bitcoin was trading around $8,000, the Tether Treasury minted $60 million in USDT, according to Whale Alert. 100 million USDT were minted as the BTC rose above the $8,500 mark. 

The Whale Alert data shows an increase in Tether Treasury activity. In the last 24 hours, $160 million in USDT have been minted. The activity coincides with the Bitcoin rally over $9.000. At the time of writing, BTC recorded an 8.92% increase to $8,924.

Tether mints while Bitcoin rallies over $9,000

The 160 million dollars in USDT were minted in two separate transactions. The first transaction amounted to USDT 60 million and was performed while BTC was in the process of breaking through the USD 8,000 mark. The second transaction was conducted at a time when the cryptocurrency was passing the $8,600 mark whereupon the Tether Treasury minted $100 million in USDT.

On the other hand, a few hours before the BTC price increase, Whale Alert reported a deposit of about USDT 50 million on the exchange Binance and a second deposit less than 10 hours later, amounting to about USDT 35 million. The deposits coincided with the surge in price when Bitcoin exceeded $9,000 for the first time since the “Black Thursday”.

Whale Alert has also reported a surprising increase in USDT transactions from the OKEx exchange to an unknown wallet in recent hours. At least 19 transactions worth $20 million in USDT were recorded in the last 4 hours. According to Whale Alert, the exchange claims that the transactions are part of a “maintenance process for the exchange”.

Correlation between Bitcoin and Tether still controversial

Despite the controversy surrounding Tether and the allegations of alleged market manipulation, no link between the USDT issuance and the price increases of Bitcoin has yet been proven. However, in April, the Tether Treasury minted nearly USDT 1 billion and its market capitalization exceeded USD 7.5 billion this month, so there is at least an obvious correlation. Whether this is causal, however, remains controversial.

It is also important to note that there are reasons for the increase in the price of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin Halving will take place in the next few days. In particular, the event may have triggered the fear of missing out (“FOMO”). Furthermore, the news about a drug for the treatment of COVID-19 caused a rally in the traditional markets. As seen in recent weeks, the crypto market also rallied as a consequence.

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