Major stablecoin issuer Tether has launched a recovery tool to transfer Tether across different blockchain ecosystems, during a period when USDT reached a market value of 100 billion dollars. On March 4th, Tether announced the initiation of a blockchain recovery plan to ensure stable access to USDT in the event of disruptions on any of the multiple blockchain networks used for USDT transactions.
A Noteworthy Move from the Tether Team
According to Tether’s data, as of March 4th, USDT is part of 14 blockchain ecosystems including Tron, Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Omni. Tron and Ethereum are the two largest blockchain ecosystems for USDT, holding 51% and 43% of all issued USDT respectively.
Despite Tether’s significant reliance on blockchain ecosystems like Tron and Ethereum, the latest announcement emphasized that USDT exists independently of blockchain networks, which are used solely as a transport layer.
To address the risk of a blockchain network becoming unresponsive, unreliable, or unusable, Tether created an official recovery tool that allows users to transfer USDT between blockchain networks. The team stated the following regarding the issue:
“Users will be able to verify ownership of their addresses on a non-responsive blockchain network and a recipient address on another supported blockchain network, and Tether will transfer the USDT between them.”
According to the announcement, affected USDT users will be able to initiate the transfer process using a web interface or command-line tools. The process involves cryptographically signing a transition request to verify ownership of Tether assets, which can be used with browser extension wallets like MetaMask and hardware wallets such as Ledger or Trezor.
A Significant Milestone for Tether
The launch of Tether’s recovery tool coincides with a significant milestone for USDT’s market value, which reached 100 billion dollars for the first time on March 4th. According to CoinGecko’s data, USDT is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value, following 1.4 trillion dollars worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum valued at 442 billion dollars.
Moreover, USDT is the largest cryptocurrency by daily transaction volume, with 132 billion dollars worth of crypto trading and transactions conducted using USDT as of March 5th. Daily transactions for Bitcoin and Ethereum follow with 82 billion dollars and 33 billion dollars respectively.