Tether To Cease USDT Redemptions On Legacy Networks

By: Eva Baxter

Tether, the leading stablecoin issuer, has announced a significant strategic move by discontinuing USDT support across five "legacy" blockchains. This includes the Omni Layer, Bitcoin Cash SLP, Kusama, EOS, and Algorand. The decision will become effective from September 1, marking the end of redemption processes and freezing all remaining tokens on the aforementioned networks.

This move by Tether comes as part of an overarching "infrastructure optimization" strategy. The company aims to align its resources with current community usage trends, emphasizing scalability and active platform engagement over these less active blockchains. Over the past two years, Tether had been gradually reducing its operations on these networks, initially halting any new minting activities in relation to Bitcoin Cash, Kusama, Omni Layer, Algorand, and EOS.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether's CEO, highlighted the company's adaptability in the evolving digital asset ecosystem. By sunseting support for these legacy chains, Tether can focus on platforms providing greater scalability and active developer and community engagement. These are viewed as essential factors driving the next wave of stablecoin adoption. Despite these changes, USDT maintains its position as the leading stablecoin in the crypto market, boasting a market cap close to $160 billion.

Tether's strategy will now shift towards emerging Layer 2 networks like the Lightning Network, which promises better interoperability, faster transactions, and broad ecosystem growth. As Tether looks toward future integrations, it remains committed to enhancing USDT's global accessibility and resilience against evolving market demands. Customers currently holding USDT on the soon-to-be-unsupported blockchains are encouraged to redeem their holdings or request issuances on other supported networks before the September cutoff. Migrating through third-party providers remains an option for those not directly interfacing with Tether.