Data from the BIS indicates that USDT on Ethereum grew throughout the year 2024, but ownership in smart contracts stalled.

What's this about?

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released a research report on September 15.2026 It foundUSDT that increases issued on Ethereum were not accompanied by steadily increasing balances in smart-contract accounts, whereas those of TRON held only approximately1% during most of the historical period studied.

This finding challenges the assumption that an increased volume of stablecoin means there is automatically more capital flowing in.DeFi

Why is this important?

The BIS report tracks where the token is located, not why each holder holds it. A topographic map of the remaining holders in the year-end reports prior to that.2026 On a time axis, therefore, indicated percentages cannot be read as measured in September.USDT This point is important because current dashboards still show peaks.1% Large size on both networks

On Ethereum virtual contract accounts heldUSDT more than20% of the entire network at one point in the year2021 and2022 then the ratio dropped to around15%20%20% by the end of the year2024 and moved down to about10%.15% As token issuance expanded, this decline was a change in the proportion of tokens under contract rather than the discovery that absolute remainder peaks were steadily falling.

What do the numbers in your report say?

The map Figure 10 of the report statesUSDT that held by contracts on Ethereum is at about $1 trillion to 1.5 $10 trillion in the lower end of the graph, and on TRON is at around $1 billion or less. These values are estimates from maps.

The remaining peak of Ethereum was pegged in the upper tens of billions, while the depreciation ratio above TRON remained a small fraction of much larger supply. Percentages for both networks had different denominators across chains and thus could not be used as a single indicator of acceptance.DeFi

How did the researchers measure

The research team reconstructed the holding dataUSDT from transfer event logs on Ethereum and TRON . They identified virtual contract accounts from contract deployment data, classified other residences as externally owned accounts, and examined token supply versus mint, burn and blacklist-destruction events.

The tracking of the token itself gives a different perspective from that reported by the protocol,DeFi in which the same token may be repeated more than once.

What's the difference between TVL and BIS data?

The TVL ( total value locked ) protocol level measures the assets allocated to an application.DeFi Specifically, BIS's new data generation section tracks cross-border tokens on two networks as well as those held outside of applications. The latter method is better suited for questions aboutUSDT how they are distributed among account types while the TVL , expands the size of selected locations.

There's no way to convert the top constant into an explanation that confirms the holder's intent.

Limitations that readers should know.

The command type is also an imperfect indicator for economic use. A virtual contract may be heldUSDT to serve as a bridge, wrapper or custodian rather than a lending or trading strategy.DeFi An outsider-held account can be used for payments, savings, remittances or receipts via the Exchange.20%

So the approximate ratio1% of a contract over TRON does not indicate that the remaining token was used as payment, and the diminishing ratio of Ethereum also does not prove that useDeFi is six.

The current market size.

When audited on 28 September DefiLlama showed a market valueUSDT of approximately 183.7 billion dollars across chains, totaling about 73.3 billion dollars over Ethereum and about 92.5 billion dollars above TRON . These figures are later third-party feedbacks rather than an update to the BIS's bearer classification so it cannot be said whether the token is currently in contracts DeFi, Exchange wallets or other accounts.

What these numbers don't answer.

Claims of useDeFi Currently required to have a residual upper bound in the contract,DeFi identifiable on each chain today, separating bridges and receivers when possible. The historical percentage of BIS failing to provide that update information

A heightUSDT that increases alone does not affirm more useDeFi or payment, and says nothing about the purpose of ETH or TRX.