The new tool will allow users to move USDT between different blockchains if one network stops working. The issuer of the most popular stablecoin on the market, Tether (USDT), has announced a tool for asset recovery. The corresponding message appeared on the company’s blog. Meanwhile, the stablecoin’s capitalization reached $100 billion.
How Asset Recovery Will Work?
An asset recovery tool will allow USDT to be moved between blockchains. This will come in handy in cases where one of the networks fails.
Tether stablecoins currently support 14 blockchains, including Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Tron (TRX), Avalanche (AVAX), and Omni (OMNI). The largest number of stablecoins are concentrated in the Tron and Ethereum networks – 51% and 43% respectively. “While catastrophic failures are unlikely, Tether’s security commitments require the company to protect users’ assets in any of these scenarios,” the press release said.
According to the post, once the user has verified ownership of the wallet, they can receive their USDT on another network. The entire process will take place using a regular signature in the web interface. The new product from Tether will also support hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor.
Tether Capitalization Exceeded $100 Billion
According to reports, on March 4, the market value of USDT reached $100 billion for the first time in the history of its existence. Tether remains the third largest cryptocurrency by capitalization after Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum, while significantly ahead of them in terms of daily trading volume. As of March 5, transactions totaling $124 billion were made involving the stablecoin. The figures for the two main cryptocurrencies are $79 billion and $36 billion, respectively.
Earlier, JPMorgan analysts said that Tether has a bad effect on the crypto industry. According to them, the increase in the share of USDT threatens the entire market, since the company is exposed to enormous risk.
Tether and its Role in the Crypto Ecosphere
In a recent interview, Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, touched upon stablecoins. He emphasized that the main distinguishing feature of Tether from other issuers is the desire to serve a population that has virtually no access to the banking system. Many issuers, on the contrary, focus primarily on institutional investors.
Speaking about working with US law enforcement agencies, the CEO noted that in the case of stablecoins this cannot be avoided: “How can you not work by the rules of the traditional banking system when you use the traditional banking system?”
He noted that stablecoins are a centralized financial instrument, although they work using a decentralized blockchain. According to Ardoino, people primarily use USDT or any other stablecoin because they consider them stable and secure. If you do not interact with law enforcement, the security of using stablecoins may be undermined, noted the CEO of Tether.
Let us recall that in mid-December, the USDT issuer froze 326 wallets with a total balance of $435 million to assist law enforcement agencies. All this happened two weeks after the adoption of the new wallet freezing policy. At the same time, the Tether company announced that the Secret Service was on its platform. Representatives are now working to involve the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
