Tether stops supporting EOS and Algorand. What is the reason behind this?
The lack of appeal to users may be one reason it was abandoned by Tether.Author: Zhang joy, BlockTempo
The leading stablecoin issuer Tether announced yesterday that it will undergo a strategic transformation, prioritizing the issuance of USDT on community-driven blockchains:
At Tether, we are firmly committed to maintaining a strong and innovative blockchain ecosystem for USDT and all other tokens we issue. To fulfill this commitment, we will continuously evaluate the current transfer layers, striving to balance maintainability, usability, and community interests.
Tether Stops Issuing USDT on EOS and Algorand
At the same time, Tether announced in the statement that after thorough consideration, they will suspend the issuance of USDT on the public chains EOS and Algorand, while continuing to support protocols or public chains deemed useful by the community:
Starting today (June 24, 2024), Tether will stop minting USDT on EOS and Algorand.
In the next 12 months, Tether will continue to exchange USDT on EOS and Algorand as usual, and if there are any other changes, we will announce them in a timely manner after evaluation.
Why Were EOS and Algorand Abandoned by Tether?
According to Tether's official website, the blockchains where Tether issues USDT currently include Tron, Ethereum, Solana, Ton, Avalanche, Near, and several others.
- Among them, the issuance on Tron is the largest, with a total issuance exceeding $59.8 billion.
- Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, also has an issuance close to $52 billion.
- The revived popular public chain Solana has an issuance of about $1.89 billion.
- Even Ton, which only received support from Tether this year, currently has an issuance of $580 million.
In contrast, EOS and Algorand, as established public chains, only have issuance amounts of $85.2 million and $17.2 million, respectively, which seems to indicate a lack of appeal to users, possibly a reason for their abandonment by Tether.
On the other hand, some in the crypto community speculate that based on Tether's wording in the announcement, "We will carefully evaluate the network's security architecture to ensure the security, usability, and permanence of the selected blockchain. Our goal is to allocate resources to places that can maximize security and efficiency," Tether's actions may also imply that EOS and Algorand do not have a high enough level of decentralization, which could potentially lead to regulatory risks for Tether in the future.
However, this speculation has not been confirmed by Tether, and it is unlikely that they will clarify this in the future. We can continue to observe whether Tether will further discontinue support for more public chains or add new ones.
