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Ethereum Merge gets backed up by Tether

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The Ethereum network wants to investigate the proof-of-stake [PoS] mechanism using “The Merge.” However, it appeared to be more difficult than anticipated to leave behind proof-of-work [PoW]. Nevertheless, a number of well-known networks have expressed their support for the Merge, which is anticipated to take place in September. Tether, the biggest stablecoin issuer, was the most recent to express support for the impending update.

The recent blog post “USD Supports ETH Proof-of-Stake Transition” was written by Tether [USDT]. The network said that it had no intention of perplexing or harming the ecology. The network would function accordingly with the impending Ethereum upgrade. The blog post further said,

“Tether believes that in order to avoid any disruption to the community, especially when using our tokens in DeFi projects and platforms, it’s important that the transition to POS is not weaponized to cause confusion and harm within the ecosystem.”

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Source: Twitter

Tether also emphasised how important a seamless transition was to maintaining the “long-term sustainability of the DeFi ecosystem and its platforms.”

It should also be noted that Circle Pay’s support for the Merge was revealed before this statement was made. Since Circle Pay is the creator of USD Coin (USDC), it is said that it competes with Tether. The Ethereum network has a stronghold over USDT and USDC, respectively.

Ethereum’s shift to POS drives a wedge

As was already mentioned, there is a major rift as a result of Ethereum’s switch to PoS. A hard fork is developing, led by famous miner Chandler Guo. Uncertainty surrounds the hard fork’s future, though. Nevertheless, support has already been provided by a number of exchanges, including Poloniex, BitMex, and others. The Tron Foundation’s founder, Justin Sun, seems to be growing more optimistic about the hard fork.

While Sun acknowledged that his exchange had previously shown a preference for Ethereum PoW, he promised that his stablecoin USDD will do the same. Speaking lately about USDD, he said,

“I think decentralized stablecoins, like [Tron stablecoin] USDD, [a] decentralized U.S. dollar, is still essential to our industry because, as we all know, all the components of [decentralized finance] today it’s all decentralized … except stablecoins.”

Tether didn’t mention the anticipated hard fork in its most recent blog post. Because USDD will be used in the ETHW chain, many people assumed that Tether might be reversing course.

Tether Teams Up With Bitfinex To Unveil ‘Keet’, A P2P Video App

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Leading stablecoin issuer Tether and crypto exchange Bifinex in collaboration with Hypercore, a peer-to-peer data network has announced the launch of a fully encrypted video-calling application dubbed Keet [https://keet.io]. 

Per the announcement blog, the free video calling app employs peer-to-peer connections to facilitate real-time audio/video calls, text chat, and file sharing.

The new feature is powered by an innovative technology called Distributed Holepunching that allows users to find and connect to each other using only cryptographic key pairs upon authorization. 

This, according to the blog, empowers users with the ability to be in control of their own data and communication channels, without the prying eyes of any third party.

Compared to traditional video chat apps that typically use cloud-based software or outside servers as intermediaries to connect two or more people, Keet users would directly initiate a call to another individual’s computer, without the need of a central server or firms operating the network.

Speaking on the launch, Paolo Ardoino CTO of Tether and Bitfinex & CSO of Holepunch stated,

Web1 was the original form of the internet. It was designed to distribute information and knowledge on a global scale but it didn’t come without issues. Web2 improved upon many of the user experience roadblocks of Web1 but not without one major flaw- it requires users to give up control of their data, which has led to the rise of monopolies and growing privacy concerns.

Tether CTO- ” Freedom Is Lifeblood Of The Future”

Hence, the firms decided to work on the development of Holepunch and Keet without depending on any server. “It believes that freedom of choice, communication, and finances are the lifeblood of the future, and anything that will enhance those freedoms is worth amplifying,” Ardoino added.

Besides that, the project is being funded by both Tether and Bitfinex, and CTO Paolo Ardoino has been appointed as Chief Strategy Officer. 

As stated in the post, the Holepunch protocol will be closed-source until it completes alpha testing. It will then move to open source code in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Further, Keet’s built-in payments API will run, operate, and be powered by the Lightning Network with Tether tokens being the default micropayments system

Tether CTO says conventional hedge funds are attempting to dump USDT

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The CTO of Tether, Paolo Ardoino, speaks out about attempts by conventional hedge funds to orchestrate a coordinated attack to short USDT. In a Twitter discussion discussing the specifics, Ardoino stated that the attacks consist of a “new wave of FUD, troll armies, clowns.etc.”

The in-depth thread comes in the wake of a Wall Street Journal article that revealed traditional hedge funds are attempting to short tether through Genesi Global Trading, one of the biggest cryptocurrency brokerages.

Tether and team branded as the bad guys?

The conversation was started by Ardoino by highlighting the tools and strategies traditional finance uses to short USDT. He claimed that Tether and the team have been painted as villains despite efforts to work with regulators and promote transparency.

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Paolo drew attention to the team’s efforts and accomplishments. He continued by saying that the token is fully backed. He emphasized the fact that the altcoin has consistently redeemed USDT at $1 and has never had a redemption fail.

Ardoino compared tether to banks and claimed that his staff processed more redemptions than 7 billion, which is impractical for financial institutions,

“Tether also reduced its commercial paper exposure from ~45B to ~8.4B and is set to phase it out in full in the coming months. All the expiring CP have been rolled into US Treasury bills, and we’ll keep going till CP exposure will be 0. Tether’s portfolio is stronger than ever.”

Ardoino said that it has handled 16 billion in redemptions in more than a month, or 19 percent of its total reserve, to demonstrate the strength of its portfolio.

Throughout the thread, Ardoino emphasized the token’s durability and stability and claimed that USDT is the only stablecoin that has been successfully used under great circumstances.

“And while the FUD was focusing on USDT, during the last 2 months of crypto devastation, it was discovered that many lenders and hedge funds considered the holy heroes of our industry were actually taking risks that Tether never touched even with a ten-foot pole.”

Tether Is Planning To Offer GBPT, a Stablecoin Pegged To Sterling

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With the addition of a new cryptocurrency tied to the British pound sterling, GBPT, leading stablecoin provider Tether is extending its stablecoin offering (GBP). The new GBP-pegged stablecoin, GBPT, will go live in early July and will originally support the Ethereum blockchain, according to a formal announcement made by Tether on June 22.

In order to offer a quicker and more affordable option for asset transactions, GBPT will be a reliable digital currency linked in a 1:1 ratio to the GBPT.

USDT and USDC On Bitgert Chain Is Going To Have Zero Transaction Cost 1
Tether

GBPT joins the Tether family

The biggest stablecoin by market capitalization, USDT, and the other four fiat currency-pegged Tether tokens are now joined by GBPT. Other stablecoins include the offshore Chinese yuan-egged CNHT, the euro-pegged EURT, and the recently announced MXNT, which is pegged to the peso of Mexico.

The designers that created Tether USDT will create the new stablecoin, and it will function under Tether.to, the company’s primary website.

The UK is a key site for the upcoming wave of industrial transformation, said Paolo Ardoino, chief technical officer of Tether, adding:

“We hope to help lead this innovation by providing cryptocurrency users worldwide with access to a GBP-denominated stablecoin issued by the largest stablecoin issuer. Tether is ready and willing to work with U.K. regulators to make this goal a reality and looks forward to the continued adoption of Tether stablecoins”

The release also notes that in April 2022, HM Treasury revealed ambitions to turn the nation into a center for cryptocurrencies worldwide and include stablecoins within its regulatory framework. In order to accept stablecoins as a form of payment, the Economic and Finance Ministry of the United Kingdom intended to modify its regulatory framework.

Tether Under Mass DDoS Siege; More Details

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Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin had a major scare when CTO Paolo Ardoino confirmed that its website Tether_to was under a massive DDoS attack. “They tried already once. On a normal day, we have around 2k reqs/5min The attack brought us to 8M reqs/5min”, he wrote.

Ardoino further informed that the attack has been mitigated by Cloudflare but it still left ‘I’m under attack mode’ enabled” as a preventive measure.

According to the top exec, the additional security move “won’t affect the ability to redeeming”.

Recently the blockchain-enabled platform released a blog dispelling gossip over its commercial paper holdings. Rumors were doing the rounds that 85% of Tether’s reserves are commercial papers and that are being traded at a 30 percent discount in China and Asia.

The firm then alleged that those were “coordinated” conspiracies trying to profit at a testing time.

“These rumors are completely false and likely spread to induce further panic in order to generate additional profits from an already stressed market,” the blog states. “Tether condemns such attempts which oftentimes see simple users take the biggest hit, while few coordinated funds increase their profits.”

“Tether Always Maintained Adequate Reserves”

In 2021, Tether was fined $41 million by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for making “untrue or misleading statements and omissions of material fact” about its reserves.

In its response, the team stated that “it has always maintained adequate reserves and has never failed to satisfy a redemption request” and that the CFTC had only found that “the reserves were not all in cash and all in a bank account titled in Tether’s name, at all times.”

Apart from that, the firm through its latest blog sought to allay additional concerns with a report dated March 31, which reaffirms that “over 47% of total USDT reserves are now US Treasuries and that commercial paper makes up less than 25% of USDT’s backing”.

On a final note, the Tether chose to dissociate itself after reports emerged that it might be the next to go down in the market bloodbath after lending platform Celsius’ and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capitals’ near insolvency crisis.

Tether-ing in Mexico

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Tether, the startup behind USDT, one of the most widely used stablecoins, announced the creation of a new currency pegged to the Mexican peso on May 26. The token is intended to increase the company’s visibility and impact in Latin America.

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Tether’s decision to introduce MXNT, a token connected to the Mexican peso, appears to be a positive move. According to the Triple-A agency, roughly 40% of Mexican businesses want to adopt blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies into their operations, according to research quoted in a Tether press release. When we go deeper into the numbers, we discover that barely 2.5 percent of Mexico’s 130 million population holds cryptocurrency.

The potential for Mexico to become a complete Latin American crypto powerhouse is undeniable. Mexico will be effective in supporting the multi-billion-dollar flow of payments into the country by adopting and using stablecoins tied to the national currency. This will allow for a faster and less expensive transfer of assets.

CTO Paolo Ardoyno commented on the event, saying that the growing use of cryptocurrencies in Latin America necessitated the expansion of the stablecoin and that MXNT, in turn, can reduce volatility for people wishing to convert their assets and investments from fiat to digital currencies. It’s a win-win situation for both parties.

Consistent world of Tether

MXNT is an addition to the stablecoin’s storefront’s fiat-currency-linked stablecoins. Pegged to the US dollar USDT, pegged to the euro EURT, and pegged to the Chinese yuan CNHT, the peso-pegged token joins the ranks of the USDT, EURT, and CNHT tokens.

This range is undoubtedly impressive, but Tether’s internal issues have placed a pall over the company’s good news. As a result, earlier in May, amid investor fear, USDT lost its 1:1 peg to the dollar and traded at a discount to the market for some timeperiod of time. Tether’s reputation worsened even after the audit certifying the viability of the company’s reserves was published.

Tether CTO Says That “Terra Wasn’t a Rug Pull, Rather It Was Poorly Designed”

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Tether (USDT) and Bitfinex chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino claimed the Terra (LUNA) initiative was “poorly designed” and not intended to be a rug pull.

Ardoino compared its algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) to a “castle of cards” that could collapse at any time in response to the Terra ecosystem’s market-shattering disaster.

Many in the crypto world have cited a long record of suspicious statements and acts made by Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, raising concerns about his behavior. Kwon also worked on the previously failed algo-stablecoin project Basis Cash, according to reports.

Ardoino made the remarks on the Reimagine Unplugged podcast this week, which is produced by Reimagine, a media firm that specializes in Web3 content and events. The chief technology officer indicated that Kwon’s erroneous feeling of self-confidence was a major issue:

“I don’t know Do Kwon. But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. He created this project with arrogance and with thinking that he was right and many were supporting him, of course, probably for economic reasons, but was not per se, a rug pull, it was a project that was poorly designed as many projects are poorly designed.”

The entire crypto community is talking about Terra’s fall

Ardoino went on to say that UST had grown too big to keep its peg, claiming that its collateralization, which was predominantly in Bitcoin (BTC) at the time as it worked to create reserves, was not large enough to support the stablecoin but was “huge enough to crash the market even further.”

“They were basically in a cascade situation where they had to protect the peg, so they had to sell the collateral. Selling the collateral was generating more crashes, and these extra crashes were driving them to sell more or collateral on,” he explained.

When asked about the future regulatory landscape for stablecoins, Ardoino advised that legislators first identify the difference between stablecoins that are entirely backed by assets and those that are supported mainly by algorithms.

The city of Lugano Will Make Bitcoin, Tether, and LVGA a Legal Tender

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Swiss city Lugano has partnered with Tether to make its LVGA Points token, Tether, and bitcoin essentially legal tender in the city.

They will allow people to pay for public service fees or taxes with bitcoin, according to municipal director Pietro Poretti. He co-announced the news alongside mayor Michele Foletti and Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino at a live-streamed event on Thursday.

Over 200 shops have already partnered with the city to promote bitcoin and Lightning payments.

“Plan B,” a municipal effort being developed and worked on in partnership with Tether to attract riches, brilliant minds, and possibilities, is “perhaps the most essential component of this endeavor,” Ardoino added.

USDT, the stablecoin created by Tether, will also be accepted as legal tender in the city.

The plan calls for the construction of a physical facility in the city’s center to serve as a hub for Bitcoin and blockchain firms looking to relocate to the city and a gathering place for networking events and holding Bitcoin meetups and seminars.

Lugano follows El Salvador’s footsteps

“After making bitcoin legal money, El Salvador’s GDP climbed by 10%, and tourism increased by 30%,” Ardoino remarked. “Imagine what we could do in the heart of Europe.”

Plan B also calls for the establishment of two investment funds. The first will spend up to $3.26 million to promote the use of bitcoin, USDT, and LVGA, Lugano’s stablecoin worth one-tenth of a Swiss franc that will also be legal money.

The second is the establishment of a pool of money of up to $108.6 million for Bitcoin and blockchain firms wishing to move and establish headquarters in the city and bring people to the Swiss town.

A tight engagement with academics is another part of Lugano’s Plan B. In collaboration with local colleges, it wants to develop a specific curriculum on Bitcoin and Lightning to improve the abilities of young pupils in these emerging technologies.

To build a skilled and specialized workforce, Bitcoin and blockchain education activities will also entail the creation of 500 student grants.

Ardoino and Poretti revealed in the event that the Bitcoin World Forum, a global event focusing on the acceleration of bitcoin adoption and advocacy for freedom of speech, will be held in Lugano in late October.

The presenters also stated that Lugano would begin mining bitcoin as Plan B investigates options the city may use to generate BTC using green energy sources.

Tether joins hands with a Switzerland city to transform it into Europe’s Bitcoin capital

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Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market has outlined an ambitious project dubbed as “Plan B” for Switzerland’s ninth-largest city. Announcing the same via Twitter, the platform is aiming to brand Lugano as the “crypto capital of Europe.”

The latest development draws parallel to El Salvador’s landmark decision to make Bitcoin legal tender last year. As per the official statement, Tether is looking forward to revamping the financial sector in the city by transforming its economic system through blockchain technology. It is not specified what the stablecoin firm plans to do, but it is slated to release more details on March 3.

In addition to that, Lugano, the largest city in Italian-speaking southern Switzerland, and Tether plan to hold a press conference at the beginning of March to announce their plans.

Earlier in November, Lugano has announced launching its native blockchain knowns as the 3Achain project that was based on a Proof-of-Authority consensus algorithm linked to the Ethereum blockchain. The newly released blockchain was functioning on open-source technology.

With the increased acceptance of the technology, more cities, and even several nations around the world are working around adopting various cryptocurrencies. Apart from this, numerous countries have stated that they are meticulously working on creating their own Central Bank Digital Currencies or CBDCs that would allow direct implementation of blockchain technologies in the traditional financial system.

That being said, the latest announcement reflects the role of major stablecoin platforms like Tether which has been the driving force in reshaping the crypto landscape.

Tether on an expansion spree

A few months back the platform has announced that its USDT stablecoin is now available on the Avalanche network. Tether’s USDT is currently the largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $75.2 billion. The asset is also ranked as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency, as per data from CoinGecko.

Despite dominating the stablecoin market, Tether is not looking to slow down the expansion of USDT support across diverse blockchains.

Currently, USDT supports 14 blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Algorand, Omni, and Binance Smart Chain (BSC), among others. The stablecoin issuer is planning to go live on more DLT networks in the near future

Circle’s USDC hits $50B in market cap as it looks to dethrone Tether

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USDC, the world’s second-biggest stablecoin by market capitalization recently hit a new milestone as it crossed the $50 billion mark of the dollar-pegged asset circulating supply, looking to topple the dominance of the current leader, Tether [USDT] in the stablecoin landscape.

In fact, just two weeks ago, the cumulative supply for USDC on Ethereum has overtaken that of Tether, putting USDT in second place on Ethereum for the first time.

At present, Tether supply is mostly split between Ethereum and Tron, with nearly 39 billion and 36 billion USDT on each network, respectively, and the rest on others such as Solana [SOL], Omni [OMNI], and Algorand [ALGO], according to its transparency report.

Sharing the latest news via Twitter, the USDC creator Circle published a blog detailing the exponential trajectory of the stablecoin which has grown 10x over the course of 2021. In addition to that a recent tweet by company co-founder and CEO, Jeremy Allaire said while this is a huge number,

‘It’s the massive growth and ecosystem around it that tells the broader story.’ Adding that USDC has seen 10,000% growth over the past two years.

USDC catching on as Tether dominance diminishes

Crypto research firm Delphi Digital observed even though USDT is still the market cap leader, its growth has however slowed down compared to USDC since May 2021.

The total stablecoin supply currently stands at $177 billion, which captures 9.7% of the total crypto market capitalization. Of that, Tether commands around 45%, whereas Circle now takes a 29% share, rapidly closing the gap.

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Circle's USDC hits $50B in market cap as it looks to dethrone Tether 6

Interestingly at this time, last year Tether controlled around 74% with Circle taking a mere 16% of the stablecoin pie. According to CoinGecko, Circle’s stablecoin market capitalization rose by 987% in 2021 whereas, over the same period, Tether’s supply saw less than a third of that growth with 275%.

As per Circle’s CEO, the stablecoin network recorded $2.5 trillion in on-chain transactions and 4.6 million active wallet addresses in 2021 alone. To top that, USDC runs on eight different blockchains, is supported by 200 protocols, and can be traded in 180 countries on 34 exchanges around the world.

In addition to this, Circle on 31st January 2022 announced that the firm is expanding its USDC multichain on the Flow Network to enable users to pay on Web3.