Tether’s USDT briefly became the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization as Ether slid to a yearly low, underscoring the growing weight of dollar-linked tokens during periods of market stress. Ether’s market capitalization fell 5.2% in 24 hours to below $185 billion, and its Coinbase price touched $1,510, before recovering to $189.1 billion, above USDT’s $186 billion, according to CoinGecko data cited by Cointelegraph. Cointelegraph also said USDC surpassed XRP, with market caps of $73.6 billion and $64 billion, respectively. The moves point to continued strength in demand for stablecoins used for trading, payments and liquidity across crypto markets.