India's USDT premium has surged to 7-10%. Once the Enforcement Directorate stepped in, supply became directly constrained, and retail investors have to pay extra to buy dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Coin World News, USDT (the world's largest dollar-pegged stablecoin) is trading far above its face value on Indian crypto platforms, with a premium of 7% to 10%. Local exchanges say this phenomenon is mainly due to supply and demand. Over the weekend, the premium on USDT reached 7-10%, and at one point, USDT was trading at around ₹102.88, while the official USD-INR exchange rate was about 94.65. As of now, USDT's market cap stands at $184.68 billion, still the world's largest dollar-pegged stablecoin. The premium usually ranges between 3% and 4%, reflecting the extra rupees buyers pay to gain dollar exposure via USDT. When local demand exceeds the available supply of tradable tokens, the premium widens. Recent actions by India's Enforcement Directorate against USDT payments may have led to supply tightness, further pushing up the premium.