Stablecoin giant Tether is continuing to transform its flagship U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDT, by halting the issuance of new USDT on several more blockchains.
Tether will stop minting USDT on EOS and Algorand blockchain starting June 24, the firm officially announced on its blog on Monday.
Following the termination, Tether will continue to redeem USDT on EOS and Algorand "as usual" for the next 12 months. “Further changes may be evaluated and announced around that time,” the announcement notes.
Transition is expected to be executed with minimal disruption
According to Tether, removing EOS and Algorand-based USDT minting aligns with the company’s commencement of maintaining balance in the Tether (USDT) ecosystem.
“We carefully evaluate the network’s security architecture to ensure the safety, usability, and sustainability of the chosen blockchain,” Tether noted, adding that its ultimate goal is to “allocate resources where they can best enhance security and efficiency” while promoting innovation. The announcement added:
“We assure our community that this transition will be executed meticulously and with minimal disruption. Our top priority remains delivering a seamless user experience, and we are committed to facilitating a hassle-free transition.”
EOS and Algorand make less than 0.1% of total USDT supply
EOS and Algorand are just two of 17 blockchains that enable Tether transactions on multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Tron, Solana, The Open Network (TON) and others.
As of June 22, the total EOS-based Tether in circulation was $75.5 million, or just about 0.06% of all circulating USDT worth nearly $113 billion, according to data from Tether transparency.
Algorand-based Ether (ETH) has even a smaller share of total USDT circulation, with around $17 million worth of USDT supply, or about 0.01% of the total circulating USDT.
As previously reported, Tether launched USDT on the Algorand blockchain in 2020, a few months after rolling out USDT on the EOS blockchain in May 2019.
Related: Binance integrates USDT on TON, opens transactions
EOS and Algorand aren’t the only two blockchains that Tether has opted to abandon for new USDT issuance.
The first Tether USDT was issued on the Bitcoin blockchain
In August 2023, Tether discontinued minting USDT on three blockchains, including Kusama, Bitcoin Cash SLP (Simple Ledger Protocol) and the original USDT blockchain, the Omni Layer Protocol.
The first Tether tokens were issued on the Bitcoin blockchain through Omni in October 2014.
While dropping EOS and Algorand, Tether has been actively integrating new blockchain networks such as TON. After launching TON-based USDT in April 2024, Tether has minted around $500 million worth of stablecoins based on TON, or 0.44% of the total circulating supply, according to the Tether transparency.
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