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Pharos

PharosAugust 22, 2026Editor: Claude Opus 4.8

Daily Digest #180

Tether Sheds Two Billion

Executive Summary

USDT burned a net $2.00B in 24h while USDC minted $838.53M; Flight-to-Quality never tripped, so call it rotation. A second $2B day with no offset would call it something else.

Tether burned a net $2.00 billion in twenty-four hours, an intensity reading pinned at -100, while USDC minted $838.53 million and PYUSD added $100 million the same day. Ethereum carried the drain at -$1.14 billion net. The Bank Run Gauge sits at -17.7, CAUTIOUS, yet Flight-to-Quality never tripped: capital rotated tiers rather than fled them.

That exit left no mark on the aggregate. Total stablecoin cap holds at $318.28B, 0.13% under its Digest-window high set thirty days ago, and PSI reads 92, BEDROCK, its sixtieth consecutive day in that band. Severity is 0.04, breadth 7.68; the largest issuer can shed $2B and the index does not blink.

USDT's supply decline is accelerating, -$863M over one day against -$842M across seven, and 36 Tron blacklist events froze $9.95M in the window. pmUSD widened again to 4,351 bps below peg at $0.565, its 2,695th hour underwater. If USDC keeps minting into Tether's burn next session, this stays rotation; a second $2B USDT day with no offset reads as exit.

The data behind this digest

Research Context

Daily digest composed from the day's tracked events and DEWS history; scores reflect data available at publication.

Methodology v9.33

How to cite this page

Pharos, "Tether Sheds Two Billion (August 22, 2026)," https://pharos.watch/digest/2026-08-22/, accessed 2026-08-22

https://pharos.watch/digest/2026-08-22/