Gemini Stablecoin Volume Doubles on Top 10 Exchange Amid Tether Turmoil

One of those places was Bibox, the ninth-largest exchange by 24-hour adjusted volume, according to CoinMarketCap, which accounts for basically all trading - 96 percent at the time of writing - in the Gemini Dollar, a dollar-pegged alternative to tether.

According to internal data Bibox shared with CoinDesk, trading volume for GUSD pairs on the exchange roughly doubled in the wake of the tether turmoil.

Bibox's trading volume in USDT pairs fell by around 70 percent.

Bibox only announced GUSD trading in late September, making it, Wang said, the first exchange to list it.

"I think USDT still has a dominant trading volume among all other stablecoins," Wang said, noting that USDT volume on the exchange fell from a high of $50 million, while GUSD volume rose to a high of $2 million.

GUSD launched only a month ago, so the surge in volume is from a small base.

Still, as CoinDesk previously reported, demand for non-tether stablecoins has caused their dollar pegs to break as well, driving GUSD's exchange rate as high as $1.09.

Within hours of Tether's peg breaking, exchanges rushed to offer trading in Tether alternatives such as GUSD, Circle's USD Coin, Paxos Standard, and TrustToken's TrueUSD. The rush began with OKEx and FCoin, which announced that they would each list TUSD, USDC, GUS and PAX. Huobi soon followed, saying it would list the same four stablecoins.

An outside spokesperson for CoinBene told CoinDesk the exchange would soon announce listings of GUSD and PAX. Bibox, which had beaten the rush, reminded customers that USDT was not their only option.

Another early adopter of non-Tether stablecoins, DigiFinex, has gone further than the others, announcing in mid-September that it would not only list TUSD, but phase out trading in USDT. "We have set a goal of getting rid of Tether within this year," DigiFinex co-founder Kiana Shek told CoinDesk.