USDT or USDC or any other alternative?

[lornadane]

If we’re talking strictly about transparency and regulation, USDC is clearly ahead. Circle publishes regular attestations and works closely with regulators, which lowers uncertainty. USDT still dominates liquidity and usage though, especially on exchanges. Personally, I treat USDT as a trading tool and USDC as a parking tool.

[aysha9853]

If we’re talking about transparency then USDC is clearly ahead circle publishes regular attestations and works closely with regulators which lowers uncertainty the downside is that it’s very centralized and accounts can be frozen fast USDT has more liquidity and is everywhere but the opacity is still a concern for long term holding.

[bounceback]

Many of us know that USDT has opacity and for this, already renowned financial rating agencies have identified it as risky, one of which is S&P (Standard & Poor).
Now my point is that many of us hold stable currencies, whether for investment or as our own backup, what should we do in this case? In my view, USDT and USDC are among the top stable currencies, which one is more secure, USDC or USDT or any others options? I am seeking logical advice.

If our goal is only for the short term then USDT is certainly a good choice and more flexible so that it can make it easier for us when we want to do trading especially USDT is widely used in various Crypto exchanges and makes USDT have high liquidity compared to other stablecoins, but if we want to be safer and more transparent then choose USDC especially USDC has clear regulations and they also often audit USDC reserves so it will be safer if we make USDC as our personal reserves in the long term, both stablecoins each have their own advantages but their goals are the same to maintain value to remain stable.

[Ayers]

Many of us know that USDT has opacity and for this, already renowned financial rating agencies have identified it as risky, one of which is S&P (Standard & Poor).
Now my point is that many of us hold stable currencies, whether for investment or as our own backup, what should we do in this case? In my view, USDT and USDC are among the top stable currencies, which one is more secure, USDC or USDT or any others options? I am seeking logical advice.

Many people believe that USDC is safer and better than USDT, but I disagree with that.

As we know, rumors about USDT are nothing new and have been circulating for the past decade. But as we can see, despite those rumors, USDT remains the largest and most widely trusted stablecoin to date.

If USDC is safer and better, why hasn't it gained more market trust and surpassed USDT? USDT dominance in the stablecoin market is no accident, and there are no signs that its leading position is threatened as the gap between it and other stablecoins remains very large. Think about that.

[virasog]

Many of us know that USDT has opacity and for this, already renowned financial rating agencies have identified it as risky, one of which is S&P (Standard & Poor).
Now my point is that many of us hold stable currencies, whether for investment or as our own backup, what should we do in this case? In my view, USDT and USDC are among the top stable currencies, which one is more secure, USDC or USDT or any others options? I am seeking logical advice.

Just look at the market cap of both USDT and USDC, and you will know how many people are invested in which stablecoin. While you will see many controversies about USDT on social media but why when you compare the marketcap of both, the USDC market cap is not even half of the USDT market cap  

What does that analysis tell us? People consider USDT more safer than the USDC but if you ask my personal opinion I would say that if you're holding stablecoins, better hold half in USDT and half in USDC. That's the safest option.

[el kaka22]

While USDT is bigger, USDC is within USA itself and checked and regulated, USDT is Bahamas and not trustworhty and only power it has is the people, while USA still checks legality of it whenever they can for Americans, they just do it for Americans and whenever there is a report or problem, whereas USDC has to follow the law every single day on every single transaction. But the real answer is neither, because we should not trust or use any stablecoin unless we absolutely have to, it's a bad deal.

[Abiky]

USDC is more reliable than USDT, actually USDC is getting more support within the European market while USDT is getting excluded because of their opacity.
USDT is only afloat as one of the top tokens in the market because it continues to be widely affected among people in third world countries.

If I had to keep an important amount of money in stablecoins, then I would go for USDC or some decentralized currency, reminiscent to what DAI used to be back when it was launched.

Anyways, many people argue Tether is supposed to be avoided at all cost, and I would agree with if the holding was in the long term.

USDT has always been shady from the start (lack of transparency, sudden issuance of new units (printing), etc.). I can't believe it's still the #1 stablecoin on the market. USDC, on the other hand, is more "regulatory-compliant" and trusted by the community. USDT is more like a trading tool, than some serious, long-term investment. For guaranteed security (sort of), choose USDC instead.

Either way, nothing beats cold, hard cash. Stablecoins are new and widely unproven. Even if USDC is the most regulatory-compliant stablecoin on the market, that doesn't mean it won't fail in the long run. After all, there are no investor protections or guarantees of any kind. When you keep your money in the bank, it's insured by the government. At least, in the US. So you'll be able to recover your money if something bad happens in the long run. Hopefully, regulators scrutinize stablecoins more throughly to avert a crisis further down the road. Just my two stats.

[tech30338]

Like what other says there is nothing secure, for me securing or holding it in your own wallet where you have the keys safe, and not storing it in an exchange or anything thag you don't have control is dangerous, so make sure you own the wallet , not the one that ypu dont have the keys, and never share it to others, because if you do that then there ia possibility to be stolen.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Like what other says there is nothing secure, for me securing or holding it in your own wallet where you have the keys safe, and not storing it in an exchange or anything thag you don't have control is dangerous, so make sure you own the wallet , not the one that ypu dont have the keys, and never share it to others, because if you do that then there ia possibility to be stolen.

Honestly the risk of stablecoin is not whether you are doing self custody or not. But it's more of the risk of depegging. You can be holding a stablecoin in secured hardware wallet with many layers of security yet if the stablecoin depeg you will lose your money.

Best way here is beside doing self custody is to avoid yield bearing stables with shadow banking like management, delta neutral stablecoin, and non verifiable reserve stablecoin.

[Abiky]

Honestly the risk of stablecoin is not whether you are doing self custody or not. But it's more of the risk of depegging. You can be holding a stablecoin in secured hardware wallet with many layers of security yet if the stablecoin depeg you will lose your money.

Best way here is beside doing self custody is to avoid yield bearing stables with shadow banking like management, delta neutral stablecoin, and non verifiable reserve stablecoin.

Or more like avoiding stablecoins that are not collaterized by Fiat or any crypto asset. I'm talking about algorithmic stablecoins promising high returns. Terra/LUNA's UST stablecoin was one of them. Most of the centralized stablecoins are collaterized, so the risk of depegging is low. Not that it won't happen, of course. Because even the "safest" stablecoins can be subject to hacks, government crackdowns, or even a sudden shutdown in the future.

Keeping your money at a bank is a much safer bet. These stablecoins work best when they're used as a trading tool. Not something that you "park" your money in and forget about the rest. If giants such as USDT or USDC collapse, it would be "hell to pay". I hope this never happens during our lifetime.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Or more like avoiding stablecoins that are not collaterized by Fiat or any crypto asset. I'm talking about algorithmic stablecoins promising high returns. Terra/LUNA's UST stablecoin was one of them. Most of the centralized stablecoins are collaterized, so the risk of depegging is low. Not that it won't happen, of course. Because even the "safest" stablecoins can be subject to hacks, government crackdowns, or even a sudden shutdown in the future.

Keeping your money at a bank is a much safer bet. These stablecoins work best when they're used as a trading tool. Not something that you "park" your money in and forget about the rest. If giants such as USDT or USDC collapse, it would be "hell to pay". I hope this never happens during our lifetime.

Honestly I agree with your opinion about just keeping it in a bank instead of parking stables. Basically parking our money in stable is like entrusting our money to certain company. It's just a layer of risk that shouldn't even be there in the first place if we just take time and withdraw it to bank.

Moreover usually stablecoin redeeming requires us to be KYC verified and there is minimum threshold. So, as a retailer we can't exactly redeem the stablecoin easily and depend on secondary market liquidity which isn't really deep if we use new stablecoin like USD1 or USDG.
Best way is to treat stablecoin as just a tool for trading not for wealth preservation because it's not really fiat we're owning here. Just a token that happens to get pegged to fiat. No guarantee that the peg will be there forever.