Tether is a blockchain-enabled platform designed to facilitate the use of fiat currencies in a digital manner. Tether aims to disrupt the space of digital and fiat assets, allowing them to transact overseas and across different blockchains without the inherent volatility and complexity of both. The idea is to combine the unrestricted nature of cryptocurrencies with the stability of fiat money.
The project was launched in 2014 under the name Realcoin by the Hong Kong-based company Tether. It was conceived as a second-layer cryptocurrency token built on top of Bitcoin with the use of the Omni network. Realcoin was then renamed to USTether and after all to USDT, and then also updated to work on other networks, including Ethereum, EOS, Tron, Algorand, and OMG blockchains.
The founders of Tether are Brock Pierce, a well-known entrepreneur who co-founded a couple of other crypto and entertainment projects, including Block.One, the company behind the EOS network; Reeve Collins, also had successful projects before Tether, for example, an online ad network Traffic Marketplace; and Craig Sellars, a member of Omni Foundation.
USDT is the native stablecoin of the network. Tether tokens are the most widely adopted stablecoins that also pioneered the concept of stablecoins in the digital token space. It exists as a digital token on multiple blockchains (Ethereum, Tron, Binance Smart Chain, Algorand, EOS, Omni, Bitcoin Cash’s Standard, Solana).
The USDT tokens can be issued on different networks with different capabilities depending on the protocol. The tokens are only issued when they are requested and purchased by the users who completed the Tether KYC. Whenever new tokens are issued, the same amount of USD is allocated to the Tether’s reserves, ensuring the peg. It saves USDT from the volatility of the crypto market that on some days can cause a 10-20% change in the price.
Investors can benefit from the stability of USDT as they can perk their portfolios in USDT without cashing out to USD each time. Thanks to its stability USDT can be also transferred as a means of value between states, countries, and continents without additional commissions. USDT became widespread since the time it was first introduced, from exchanges and digital wallet apps to decentralized finance protocols and payment services, as it offers a more convenient alternative to the fiat gateways.
To achieve the peg the project team maintains a certain sum of commercial paper, fiduciary deposits, cash, reserve repo notes, and treasury bills in the reserves, which are equal in USD value to the number of USDT in circulation. USDT is known to be used as an inflation hedge, some users can also lend their tokens and earn a yield from 3% to 20%.
Tether tokens can move across the blockchain as other cryptocurrencies, but are different from most of them because they are pegged to real-world currencies on a 1-to-1 basis (for example, 1 USDT = $1) and backed by the Tether reserves. That’s why they are called stablecoins.
Despite the wide adoption, there has been a number of controversies regarding the validity of Tether’s claims about their reserves. Once the rumors disrupted the USDT price to go as low as $0.88. The main point of the critics is that the Tether reserves have never been audited by a third party. Even after the company released the breakdown of its balances, community doubts remained, though the end general concern is that Tether is too big to fall.
Tether announced the issuance of its new stablecoin - MXNT, pegged to the Mexican peso, that will be made available on three networks: Ethereum, Tron, and Polygon. The idea is to test a new stablecoin in the market and then offer more cryptocurrencies pegged to the other Latin American currencies as well.
In July 2022 Tether together with peer-to-peer data network Hypercore and its sister company Bitfinex launched a social media app named Keet. It is a fully encrypted video chat application that is only available on desktops as of October 2022.
USDT has no hard-coded limit on the total supply of USDT. In fact, the issues fully depend on the Tether company and its inner policies. But as each USDT has to be backed by the reserves, the total supply is limited by the company’s cash reserves. As of October 2022, there are 68.45 billion USDT in the current circulation.
Average USDT Fees
The fees for transacting USDT will vary depending on the network the tokens are issued on, and also the platform where you want to deposit, trade, and withdraw the tokens. Normally, on the Ethereum network, the fees will be higher, while USDT on EOS can be sent almost free of charge.
On different platforms, the fees for depositing USDT will vary from $1 to $2.5 and might reach $12 for withdrawing.
USDT Wallets
USDT is a widespread cryptocurrency that is supported by most wallets, including Binance, Coinbase, Exodus, Ledger, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Ledger, Omni Wallet, My Ether, Ledger Nano, Coinomi, Crypto Wallet, Paybis, etc.
It’s important to keep in mind that specific wallets only support tokens on specific networks (Ethereum, BNB, EOS, and so on) and that sending the assets is only possible between the wallets on the same network.
