Stablecoin issuer Tether has launched its USDT stablecoin on Telegram’s Web3 ecosystem, The Open Network (TON).
Tether announced the launch of the gold-pegged Tether Gold (XAUT) stablecoin on TON on April 19, in addition to the information above.
The announcement coincided with the keynote addresses delivered by Pavel Durov, the creator of Telegram, and Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, at the cryptocurrency conference Token2049 in Dubai.
Tether also disclosed its intention to undergo a restructuring and unveiled four additional business divisions—Tether Data, Tether Finance, Tether Power, and Tether Edu—during the same occasion.
Ardoino asserts that TON and Tether espouse a comparable vision of a borderless financial system and an open, decentralized internet.
The CEO of Tether stated, “The launch of USDT and XAUT on TON will enable seamless value transfer, thereby increasing activity and liquidity and providing users with a comparable financial experience to that of the traditional financial system.”
This most recent advancement signifies a significant milestone in Tether’s ongoing effort to extend its reach to fifteen Tron and Ethereum blockchains.
The TON network, whose native token, Toncoin (TON), surpassed Dogecoin on April 16 as the ninth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, also considers this milestone crucial.
“Because USDT and XAUT on TON are compatible with Telegram, they have the potential to facilitate peer-to-peer payments for Telegram’s user base of over 900 million global users in a simple, borderless experience,” the announcement states.
Jack Booth, the head of marketing for the TON Foundation, told Cointelegraph that the TON ecosystem’s ability to facilitate transfers between fiat and cryptocurrencies and its aspiration to surpass conventional finance in terms of usability and efficiency distinguish USDT’s launch on TON. He ad:
“[There are] built-in on-ramps for fiat at the launch and global off-ramps for bank cards and accounts soon. This will be the first time a mass audience will be able to use crypto infrastructure for global payments.”
USDT-TON Relationship
The USDT launch on TON is not the initial occurrence of an intersection between the two ecosystems.
USDT, along with other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Toncoin, has been one of the default cryptocurrencies accessible via Wallet, a third-party custodial wallet accessible to Telegram users, since at least 2023.
As of the time of writing, the default blockchain supported by Wallet for USDT is the Tron network, which enables TRC-20 USDT. Wallet’s chief operating officer, Halil Mirakhmed, has stated that TON-based USDT will be added to the platform’s offerings, while TRC-20 USDT will remain.
Tether data indicates that the Tron blockchain held the largest proportion of issued USDT at the time of the announcement.
A few weeks before the release of the news, Tether introduced a recovery utility in March 2024 that enabled users to transfer USDT between blockchains. USDT surpassed its all-time peak market capitalization of $100 billion on March 4.
