Tether Ends USDT Support for Three Blockchains

Tether, a prominent stablecoin provider, revealed its decision to discontinue support for its USDT token on three blockchains where the token had not gained significant traction. The affected blockchains include Bitcoin’s Omni Layer, Bitcoin Cash’s Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP), and Kusama.

Tether outlined its rationale on its website, emphasizing that community interest plays a pivotal role in determining whether the company will bring USDT to a specific blockchain. The company stated that if a blockchain doesn’t exhibit substantial activity over an extended period and doesn’t show signs of usage recovery, continuing support becomes inefficient and may compromise security and oversight.

One of the affected blockchains, Omni Layer, was established approximately a decade ago as a smart contract layer built on top of Bitcoin, enabling smart contracts and tokenization on the network. Omni played a crucial role in Tether’s early journey, serving as the “first transport layer” for USDT in 2014. However, challenges emerged over time due to the absence of popular tokens and the preference of crypto exchanges for other layers like Ethereum and Tron.

Tether expressed the possibility of reconsidering USDT support for Omni if the decentralized exchange and token issuance protocol of Omni’s network experienced increased utilization in the future.

While Tether is discontinuing support for USDT on Omni, it has not abandoned Bitcoin altogether. The company is now planning to issue USDT on RGB, an alternative smart contract system that leverages Bitcoin’s base layer and the lightning network to achieve unparalleled scalability. Tether believes that RGB holds the potential to usher in a new era for digital assets, smart contracts, and digital rights.

Although the minting of USDT on these discontinued chains has ceased, holders of USDT on these platforms will still be able to redeem their tokens for the next 12 months. Additionally, they can trade their tokens on exchanges, such as Bitfinex, for assets on other supported chains.

While the Omni blockchain struggled to gain adoption, the broader crypto ecosystem has witnessed various initiatives for Bitcoin-based stablecoins.

Notably, Stably launched the first stablecoin on Bitcoin’s base layer using the BRC-20 token standard in May, showcasing ongoing efforts to innovate within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Image Credit: Shutterstock