Tether Ends USDT Stablecoin Support On Kusama Network And Bitcoin Cash

USDT stablecoin. (Photo; Doc. Cryptoast)

JAKARTA - In a significant announcement on August 17, the world's leading company in creating stablecoins, Tether, has taken the decision to discontinue support for USDT stablecoins in three specific networks and blockchain layers.

This decision affects the implementation of the Omni Layer, Kusama, and Bitcoin Cash SLP for USDT. Tether specifically emphasized the importance of this move in ending support for the Omni network, the place of origin where USDT was first introduced.

The company explains that the challenges faced by Omni Layer have resulted in many exchanges preferring the USDT variants issued on various other blockchain networks. However, Tether also revealed that they would reconsider this decision if the use of the Omni Layer increased in the future.

Tether has plans to introduce USDT's Bitcoin implementation in RGB, a layer-2 and layer-3 network aimed at Bitcoin, including the Lightning Network. This action is expected to bring "extraordinary scalability" and positively contribute to RGB development.

In the announcement, Tether stated that it would stop printing USDT in three affected networks starting August 17. Even so, the company still ensures that they will continue to facilitate the USDT exchange affected as usual, at least over the next year, and guarantees that users can still trade on various exchanges.

It's important to note that the impact of this decision on USDT supply should be minimal. Although support in some networks is over, most USDT supplies are currently still circulating on Ethereum and TRON platforms. These two platforms jointly account for nearly the overall USDT market cap, which amounted to USD 83 billion (approximately IDR 1.2 quadrillion).

Recent data show that about $888 million USDT has been authorized on the Omni network, but more than two-thirds of that amount has not been issued or is still in quarantine.

Along the way, the data also indicates that $3.5 million USDT has been authorized on the Kusama network, with more than half of that number still waiting to be issued. On the other hand, nearly $6.0 million USDT has been authorized on the Bitcoin Cash SLP, with about 85% of the total yet to be published.

It should be emphasized that this announcement did not mention the impact on the EURT stablecoin attached to the euro. The minimum number of tokens for the EURT (IDR 1,610.54 or IDR 26.8 million) is still on the Omni network.