USDT’s market cap has grown to $69.5 billion from $68.5 billion since Monday, according to crypto currency price tracker CoinGecko

Tether’s USDT, the biggest stablecoin in terms of circulating supply, has achieved nearly $1 billion in market capitalization as crypto investors flee competitor Binance USD (BUSD), which came under regulatory scrutiny earlier during the week.

USDT’s market cap has increased to $69.5 billion since Monday, as per crypto currency price tracker CoinGecko. This is the highest since the crypto market turmoil last June, when traders placed bets on Tether’s collapse.

Tether’s recent gains come as BUSD, which is issued by Paxos under the exchange giant Binance’s brand, has been quickly dropping.

According to blockchain data by crypto intelligence firm Nansen, Paxos has burned over $1.8 billion worth of BUSD since Monday morning.

The market capitalization of BUSD has dropped to $14.3 billion from $16.1 billion during this time, reflecting an 11 per cent drop, according to CoinGecko data.

The $136 billion stablecoin market is in the middle of an upheaval as U.S. regulators increase the pressure on Paxos and BUSD, the third-largest stablecoin.

On Monday, Paxos announced it would halt minting BUSD after February 21, citing orders from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is preparing to sue the company for issuing unregistered securities, CoinDesk reported earlier during the week.

While Paxos’ other stablecoin, the seventh-largest Paxos dollar (USDP), has avoided the regulators’ actions, the token has still experienced around $100 million of net redemptions, resulting in an 11 per cent decline in supply.

Stablecoins are a type of crypto currency whose price is fixed to an external asset like the U.S. dollar. If demand for a stablecoin wavers, issuers reduce the supply by pulling out tokens from circulation, a practice known as burning, to keep the price peg.

Other large-cap stablecoins like Circle’s USDC and MakerDAO’s DAI have not moved, which suggest that investors have rushed to USDT from BUSD or sold their holdings for fiat money and other digital assets.