Market cap is USD_price * Units_in_circulation. As Tether is supposed to be pegged to the US dollar price, the drop in market cap is a reduction in the # of un

Market cap is USD_price * Units_in_circulation. As Tether is supposed to be pegged to the US dollar price, the drop in market cap is a reduction in the # of units in circulation. People are exchanging Tether back for USD equivalents. Each time this happens, Tether (the company) "burn" the tokens which were in circulation. This burning is likely done in batch mode on a schedule, which would explain the timing pattern of drops in market cap. People are likely pulling out of Tether because there has been long ongoing rumors that they don't have enough USD backing their coin, and with recent crashes like Luna and Celsius, who would take the risk of holding a worthless token which might they may not be able to redeem for anything in future?