Tether has deployed the USDT stablecoin on Tezos, becoming the 12th blockchain on which the popular stablecoin is available.
The deployment of Tether onto several blockchains has helped USDT reach a staggering market cap of $72.5 billion. The second-largest stablecoin by market cap, USDC, has only $53.9 billion. The stablecoin was most recently launched on the Kusama network in April.
Tether has been making progress in other respects as well. The company recently launched the stablecoin in Mexico, pegged to the Mexican peso. This particular variant of the stablecoin was launched on Ethereum, TRON, and Polygon.
Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino offered praise regarding Tezos’ potential, saying the Tether launch would aid its long-term growth:
“We’re excited to launch USD₮ on Tezos, offering its growing and vibrant community access to the most liquid, stable, and trusted stablecoin in the digital token space. Tezos is coming fast onto the scene and we believe that this integration will be essential to its long-term growth.”
USDT will be used in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem on the Tezos blockchain, naturally. USDT is widely used for the same reason on Ethereum, and it could help Tezos also expand its DeFi offerings. This focus on DeFi appears to be one of the biggest matters on the agenda of Tezos stakeholders.
Tether not without controversy
Tether is not without its controversies, and in fact, it has long been the subject of intense discussion among the crypto community. The controversies primarily have to do with the reserves backing the Tether supply.
The audits and reports released so far by Tether have not sufficiently appeased those worried about the backing. The fact that USDT plays such a critical role in the market worries some investors, who believe that any critical failure could result in much wider market consequences.
However, the concerns surrounding the stablecoin have diminished somewhat in recent months. Most recently, it was discovered that boutique bank Capital Union of the Bahamas was one of Tether’s banking partners, with $1 billion in assets.