Tether launches USDT stablecoin on the Avalanche blockchain

Tether has launched its USDT stablecoin on the Avalanche blockchain after first announcing its support in May.

The launch comes as Avalanche’s ecosystem is growing at a rapid pace. The total value locked (TVL) in Avalanche-based DeFi protocols has increased dramatically over the past three months — from around $300 million in August to over $10 billion currently — according to tracker DeFi Llama.

USDT on Avalanche could further boost this growth as stablecoins play an essential role in the DeFi market. Traders use stablecoins to swap tokens and to lend them out to earn high yields from DeFi platforms.

Emin Gün Sirer, director of the Avalanche Foundation, called the USDT’s launch on Avalanche “an essential building block for DeFi users.”

USDT has also seen strong growth this year in parallel to the crypto market’s rally this year. The stablecoin’s total supply has grown from around $22 billion at the start of this year to about $78 billion currently, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard.

Avalanche-based USDT has also been integrated directly with Bitfinex, meaning users can access the stablecoin via the crypto exchange. Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino told The Block that users can also deposit USDT on other blockchains and swap them for USDT on Avalanche.

Avalanche is the ninth blockchain USDT now supports. The other eight blockchains are Algorand, Bitcoin Cash’s Simple Ledger Protocol, Ethereum, EOS, Liquid Network, Omni, Tron, and Solana.

Earlier this year, Tether said it will also launch USDT on the Polkadot and Kusama networks. Ardoino said the firm is reviewing more blockchains to support in the near term, without disclosing any specific names.

CENTRE Consortium is also reportedly looking to support more blockchains for its USDC stablecoin, including Avalanche and Polkadot. USDC is currently available on six networks: Algorand, Ethereum, Hedera, Solana, Stellar, and TRON.

CENTRE, in fact, wants to create a “global network of stablecoins,” CEO David Puth told The Block recently.

© 2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Source: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/123931/tether-usdt-stablecoin-launches-avalanche-blockchain?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss