Competition in the cryptocurrency world is increasing daily, making survival harder as alternatives grow. The frequency of airdrops and intensifying competition have weakened many networks that were popular in the previous bull season. Today’s news could have negative consequences for two popular altcoins in the short, medium, and long term.
Tether Withdraws Support
Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin by market value, USDT, made an important announcement. According to this announcement, the issuance of USDT on EOS and Algorand will be halted. For USDT, which is pegged to the US dollar, life will gradually end on these two networks. The official announcement provides a 12-month period for token conversion alongside the halt of new USDT issuance.
“For the next 12 months, the use and conversion of USDT on EOS and Algorand will continue as usual. Further changes may be announced during this period.”
Tether has been making radical decisions for some time to stabilize the USDT ecosystem.
“We carefully evaluate the security architecture of the chosen blockchain to ensure its security, usability, and sustainability. Our ultimate goal is to allocate resources where they can best enhance security and efficiency while promoting innovation. We assure our community that this transition will be conducted meticulously and with minimal disruption. Our top priority is to provide a seamless user experience, and we are committed to facilitating a smooth transition.”
EOS and Algorand
By abandoning these two networks, Tether has made a significant move that could undermine confidence in them. In the long term, this decision will not benefit the two networks. USDT can be used on 17 different networks, including Ethereum, Tron, Solana, and The Open Network (TON). The total USDT supply in the two networks where support is cut accounts for less than 0.1%.
EOS hosts 75.5 million dollars worth of USDT, while the total size of Tether (USDT) is around 113 billion dollars. This means we are talking about 0.06% of the total supply. Algorand hosts 17 million dollars worth of USDT.
In August 2023, Tether halted new stablecoin issuance on three networks: Kusama, Bitcoin Cash SLP (Simple Ledger Protocol), and Omni Layer Protocol. Instead, it recently started increasing its presence on the TON network.
