$7.6bn of ‘stablecoin’ tether redeemed since start of crypto crisis

Figures suggest company has paid out more than total cash on hand, as terra backers prepare relaunch

Digital investors have withdrawn savings in the stablecoin" tether worth $7.6bn (6.2bn) since the cryptocurrency crisis began last week, suggesting the company has paid out a sum almost twice its total cash holdings to spooked depositors.

Stablecoins are supposed to have a fixed value matched to a real-world asset, in most cases $1 a token. However, faith in the concept was rocked last Tuesday when another big player, terra, broke its peg to the dollar. That has fuelled a wider sell-off across the crypto sector, which relies on stablecoins for much of its financial engineering.