What is Tether (USDT)?
Tether (USDT) was created by Tether Limited in 2014. Its authors have created an innovative platform that has been eagerly awaited by many users and traders around the world.
Initially, USDT was named Realcoin. However, during the subsequent rebranding, the company changed not only the name, but also the underlying technology. In the course of work on a new version of a fast, easy connection that would provide full access to various services on the Internet, the idea of creating Tether was born. The result was a product that was unlike the others. The developers were able to qualitatively implement a curious idea — to combine real-life currency and blockchain technology. As a result, USDT digital coins appeared.
In simple terms, USDT is a blockchain dollar that uses cryptography. Tether is also called a stablecoin, as its rate rarely fluctuates. The market rate for USDT is almost always equal to 1 US dollar.
Features of USDT
Stable course. Most often, the rate is very close to $1.
There is no emission limit. While the Tether project is running, coins will be issued.
Prevalence. The coin is highly popular and is traded on almost all exchanges.
Disadvantages of USDT:
Lack of normal and regular audits.
The Tether team has been accused more than once of the fact that the USDT held in the reserve fund is several times smaller than the company claims. Due to these allegations, in 2017 the USDT rate fell to $0.92, in 2018 - to $0.89. At the same time, the value of USDT has risen many times above $1.05 over the past three years.
Between 2017 and 2020, Tether Limited blacklisted 79 Ethereum addresses containing more than $45 million worth of tokens. This is evidenced by data from the Dune Analytics service.
The company explained this by the fact that the blocking were made at the request of law enforcement agencies.
Since the beginning of the year, Tether has returned $5 million worth of USDT to users who sent their funds to the wrong address. Such actions are causing divisions within the crypto community. Users fear the possibility of blockchain manipulation. But at the same time, Tether showed the opposite, positive side of their systems: the ability to manually correct unpleasant situations.
What blockchains does USDT run on?
USDT was originally developed on the Omni Layer, a platform used to issue electronic currencies. It works on the Bitcoin blockchain.
In 2018, USDT was released on Ethereum. This made USDT compatible with decentralized applications, significantly increased the speed of transactions and significantly reduced the amount of fees. At this time, Tether on the ETH blockchain is the most popular among users. The average block release time on the Ethereum network is 15 seconds. Fee at the time of this writing averages $16.
In 2019, USDT was powered by the Tron blockchain. The average block release time in the Tron network is 3 seconds. Fee is minimal — just a few cents. Collaboration with various blockchains helps the creators of USDT adhere to the principle of independence from a particular blockchain.
Tether addresses (USDT)
Tether Omni addresses started with 1 or 3 — just like Bitcoin addresses. Addresses on the Ethereum blockchain start at 0x. Tron blockchain addresses start with T.
Tether currently works in three protocols, so be sure to check the recipient's address when sending funds.