Tether, the company behind the popular stablecoin USDT with a market value of $108 billion, has expanded its services on The Open Network (TON), a blockchain platform closely related to the messaging app Telegram.
The TON altcoin has a market value of $21.7 billion at the time of writing.
The announcement was made during the Dubai 2049 conference, where it was revealed that Tether had authorized $10 million worth of USDT in TON, of which $3 million had already been issued.
This strategic move is expected to enhance peer-to-peer payments for Telegram's large user base of approximately 900 million and encourage activity in the TON ecosystem.
“The launch of USDT and XAUT on TON will facilitate seamless value transfer, increase activity and liquidity, and provide a financial experience comparable to traditional financial systems,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
XAUT is known as a gold-indexed cryptocurrency belonging to the Tether company.
TON, which was originally launched by Telegram but now operates independently due to past regulatory hurdles, has seen its usage increase recently. The number of monthly active addresses increased from under 100,000 to over 1.7 million in just six months.
Halil Mirakhmed, business manager of Wallet in Telegram, explained that transaction fees in the ecosystem have been reduced to increase the adoption of TON. “Within the Ton Space ecosystem, USDT on the TON network is the only option that simplifies the user experience for those involved in the TON ecosystem,” Mirakhmed added.
*This is not investment advice.