The CEO of stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT), Paolo Ardoino, has denied rumors that the company will introduce an official Tether Chain. He stated, “Tether is not planning to build an official blockchain at this time,” in a post on X.
I hear again few rumors about a Tether Chain.
— Paolo Ardoino 🤖🍐 (@paoloardoino) November 3, 2024
Tether is not planning to build an official blockchain at this time.
Simply different independent L2 solutions are working to support $USDt for gas fees.
The primary reason Tether is not releasing an official blockchain anytime soon, according to Ardoino’s November 4 post, is because “neutrality is very important.”
On the contrary, he said, Tether has supported the integration of its stablecoin on other networks and is working to support gas fees.
Additionally, at this time, Tether is only looking to “partner up with other companies and communities.” The company’s motto, according to the CEO, is “Unstoppable TogETHER,” as opposed to attempting to centralize everything.
One of the main reasons for which Tether won't launch a chain anytime soon is that neutrality is very important.
— Paolo Ardoino 🤖🍐 (@paoloardoino) November 3, 2024
Unstoppable TogETHER, our motto, underlines our interest to partner up with other companies and communities rather than trying to centralize everything. https://t.co/NS27QOY5Wr
Tether, on November 1, announced the launch of its Dirham-pegged stablecoin on TON Blockchain. The stablecoin will be made by Tether in a joint venture with Phoenix Group and Green Acorn, as announced at the Gateway 2024 event in Dubai.
Additionally, he also emphasized that the company is gearing up to release 2 new products this month, calling it “Tethember.”
At Tether we're getting ready to release 2 new products this month
— Paolo Ardoino 🤖🍐 (@paoloardoino) November 1, 2024
Tethember 🦾
He later clarified, though, that Tether had postponed the product launch date due to the US elections in November. “Any product/announcement done this coming week would end up likely obliterated by the election noise,” Ardoino wrote.
Any product / announcement done this coming week would end up likely obliterated by the election noise.
— Paolo Ardoino 🤖🍐 (@paoloardoino) November 3, 2024
Gotta push back new product release by 7 days.
At the Plan B forum in Lugano, Switzerland, Ardiono also told Cryptonews that Tether is more concerned with preserving its stablecoin leadership in the face of growing competition from other issuers.
Tether’s Decision to Step Down from the Blockchain Bandwagon
The stablecoin issuer has been reiterating that blockchain is a ‘saturated market.’ In an interview with Bloomberg, the CEO noted, “blockchains will become almost a commodity in the future.”
“Launching a blockchain ourselves might be not the right move. There are very good blockchains.”
Per DefiLlama’s data, of the 322 chains, the top 5 control over 75% of the total value of assets locked. Ethereum is the market leader with about $47.64 billion in TVL, comprising 55.24%. TVL refers to the overall value of crypto deposited in the protocol.
High speeds, cheap fees, and robust security are some essential components for a blockchain to succeed. Keeping blockchain “agnostic,” according to Ardoino, is preferable as long as the highest level of sustainability and security is maintained.