HostDAI vs USDT — price, size and safety, side by side
DAI (Ethereum) vs USDT (BNB Chain) — every figure is the freshest dated measurement we hold for that token, never a live-feed guess. Prices stamped 2026-10-17 / 2026-10-17.
DAI vs USDT — normalized performance, 2026-09-15 to 2026-10-17T03:15:24
| DAI | USDT | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.9976 | $0.9991 |
| Market cap | $4.56B | $9.19B |
| 24h volume | $10.35M DEX | $1.12B DEX |
| Liquidity | $53.63M | $548.60M |
| FDV | $4.55B | $9.19B |
| Holders | 710,510 | 80,624,971 |
| Age (days) | 1,526 | 311 |
| Safety grade | B | B |
Where they differ
- USDT measures ~2.0× the market cap of DAI
- USDT measures ~10× the liquidity of DAI
- USDT measures ~108× the 24h volume of DAI
- USDT measures ~113× the holder count of DAI
What the data says
DAI
DAI answered a question the other stablecoins on this site don't ask: can a dollar exist on-chain without a company behind it? Since 2019, the contract at 0x6b175474e89094c44da98b954eedeac495271d0f has held near a dollar not because anyone promises redemption at a bank, but because every DAI is minted against locked crypto collateral worth more than it, with interest rates and liquidations — governed by MakerDAO, now rebranded Sky — doing the work a treasurer would. No single company can freeze your DAI or pause the contract; that censorship-resistance is the property its holders are actually paying for.
The honest complications have grown over the years. A large share of DAI's backing has long included centralized stablecoins and real-world assets, which reimports a slice of the issuer risk the design was born to escape — the March 2023 weekend when USDC's depeg dragged DAI to roughly $0.89 alongside it made that dependency visible. And the 2024 rebrand to Sky, with its upgrade path to the newer USDS token, means DAI is now the legacy branch of its own ecosystem: still enormous, still redeemable through the same machinery, but no longer where its creators' roadmap points. Neither fact is a defect; both belong in the price of holding it.
USDT
USDT on BSC is Tether's dollar on the chain that still clears a meaningful share of stablecoin volume — issued by Binance's peg mechanism under the BEP-20 standard at 0x55d398326f99059ff775485246999027b3197955, the canonical BSC mint. Our October 9, 2026 snapshot reads $548.6 million of tracked pool liquidity.
The honest chain note: this is a pegged representation — the reserve sits with Tether, and the BSC contract is Binance's wrapped issuance of that claim, not a second Tether mint. That makes its risk profile two-layered: Tether's attestation cadence underneath, plus the bridge-custody layer Binance operates on top. For most users the distinction never matters; for anyone holding size it is the entire question.
FAQ
Which is bigger, DAI or USDT?
By tracked market cap: DAI (Ethereum) measures $4.56B and USDT (BNB Chain) measures $9.19B — dated snapshots, not a live feed.
Which is safer, DAI or USDT?
On the contract checks we publish: DAI (Ethereum) grades B and USDT (BNB Chain) grades B. A grade is a structural check on the contract, not a promise about the asset.
How have DAI and USDT performed over the shared window?
Between 2026-09-15 and 2026-10-17T03:15:24, the measured snapshots show DAI at −0.51% and USDT at +0.14%.
The grade column is the one CMC's compare page cannot print — our grade is computed from the contract itself (mint/freeze authority, liquidity, holder concentration). Changes are measured over the shared window stated on the chart, 2026-09-15→2026-10-17T03:15:24; a token with fewer measured points measures a shorter span inside it.
Figures are dated on-chain snapshots, not a live feed. Safety grades are structural checks — not investment advice. Free · no signup · a HostDeFi product.