Tether to add Avalanche blockchain support

The issuer of the USD-pegged stablecoin USDT, Tether, announced support for the Avalanche blockchain.

We’re pleased to announce that Tether tokens (USDt) will be available on Avalanche @avalancheavax, an open-source platform for launching highly decentralized applications, new financial primitives and new interoperable blockchains.

Find out more⬇️https://t.co/e6wmwey6Ey pic.twitter.com/gUVwSC3Ot6

— Tether (@Tether_to) May 17, 2021

USDT is already operating on Algorand, Simple Ledger Protocol, Ethereum, EOS, Liquid Network, Omni, Tron and Solana. The launch of the stablecoin on the Avalanche network was expected in mid-June 2021, The Block reported, citing Tether’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino.

According to him, the push toward alternative solutions was driven by high fees on Ethereum. The CTO did not rule out that the trend would continue if the situation does not change.

In September 2020 the mainnet launch of Avalanche and the listing of the AVAX token on the Binance exchange. The project founders estimated the network’s throughput at 4500 TPS.

In February 2021 the ChainSafe created a ‘bridge’ between the blockchains Avalanche and Ethereum to move assets of DeFi projects between the two ecosystems.

In April, USDT’s market capitalization surpassed $50 billion. Tether’s dominance index among stablecoins stood at 66%.

In May, the company said that cash and cash equivalents formed 76% of the reserves of Tether Holdings Limited.