#稳定币 Recently, I've been researching stablecoins and found a rather interesting topic😅 The stablecoin giant Tether (USDT) may actually need an additional $4.5 billion in reserves to reach a capital adequacy level similar to that of traditional large banks? This sounds a bit frightening, but after carefully looking at the information, I realized that there is actually a particularly complex financial logic behind it.

To be honest, I was confused at first when I heard terms like "risk-weighted assets" and "capital adequacy ratio" 😭 But gradually I understood that the risks of stablecoins are not just as simple as "whether there are equivalent US dollar reserves." The assets that Tether invests in, such as Bitcoin, gold, and loans, each have different risk levels and require different proportions to offset them. Just like for highly volatile assets like Bitcoin, a much larger "safety cushion" is needed compared to cash in USD.

Currently, Tether's excess reserves of 6.8 billion USD sound like a lot, but from another perspective, it might still fall short of the standards of a large bank like JPMorgan. However, it is interesting that Tether's parent company has accumulated over 20 billion in profits, which serves as a form of "invisible guarantee," although there is no legal obligation to it.

This has helped me understand better why people's trust levels in stablecoins vary. Choosing a stablecoin really can't just look at 'whether there are reserves'; we also need to consider deeper factors such as the issuer's capital strength and asset allocation transparency. It's a bit complex, but it’s becoming more interesting!