Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin USDT, has announced that it will stop minting new tokens on the EOS and Algorand blockchains. This decision is part of Tether's "strategic transition to prioritize community-driven blockchain support".
According to Tether's transparency report, there is currently around $113 billion worth of USDT in circulation across 16 different blockchains. However, the vast majority of USDT is concentrated on just two chains: Tron ($59 billion) and Ethereum ($52 billion).
In contrast, the USDT supply on Algorand and EOS is much smaller, with only $85 million on Algorand and $17 million on EOS. Together, these amounts represent less than 0.1% of the total USDT supply.
Tether has cited low usage and community interest as the main reasons for halting USDT minting on Algorand and EOS. The company aims to "strike a balance between maintainability, usage and community interest" when deciding which blockchains to support.
While new USDT tokens will no longer be minted on these chains, Tether has committed to supporting redemptions for the next 12 months. This means that users holding USDT on Algorand and EOS will still be able to convert their tokens back to fiat during this period.
Interestingly, Tether's month-over-month supply growth has slowed to less than 1.5%, down from over 5% in April and May. This could be an indication of a cooling demand for USDT or a shift in market dynamics.
It's worth noting that this is not the first time Tether has discontinued support for certain blockchains. In August 2023, the company halted USDT minting on Kusama, Bitcoin Cash's Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP), and the Omni Layer Protocol on Bitcoin.
Despite reducing its presence on some blockchains, Tether is actively expanding to others. In April 2024, the company launched USDT on The Open Network (TON), which is associated with the messaging app Telegram. Since then, about $500 million worth of USDT has been minted on TON, representing around 0.44% of the total supply.
Tether's decision to halt USDT minting on Algorand and EOS highlights the company's focus on supporting blockchains with strong community interest and usage. While the impact on the overall USDT supply may be minimal, it could potentially affect the DeFi activity on these chains.
As Tether continues to evolve its stablecoin ecosystem, it will be interesting to see how the company navigates the changing landscape of the crypto industry and adapts to the shifting demands of its users and partners.
Top comments (0)