Depends what you mean by “holding” USD. Is it under your mattress? Or in a bank? Is it a bank in Venezuela or Lebanon?
Holding USDT is kind of holding USD. You just have Tether in the middle.
Main utility (value?) of stablecoins is to “bridge” USD fiat into crypto though.
Interestingly, crypto.com (exchange) keeps a “USD” balance for its customers, which is separate from its USDT balance. You can deposit/withdraw to/from your “USD” balance via fiat (bank transfer) or a basket of stablecoins like USDC, BUSD etc. Binance does this as well, and FTX before. They all kept USDT separate though. Worth considering why this is the case.
Holding USDT is kind of holding USD. You just have Tether in the middle.
Main utility (value?) of stablecoins is to “bridge” USD fiat into crypto though.
Interestingly, crypto.com (exchange) keeps a “USD” balance for its customers, which is separate from its USDT balance. You can deposit/withdraw to/from your “USD” balance via fiat (bank transfer) or a basket of stablecoins like USDC, BUSD etc. Binance does this as well, and FTX before. They all kept USDT separate though. Worth considering why this is the case.