The issuer of stablecoin Tether will discontinue its Bitcoin Omni Layer model, citing an absence of curiosity from customers. This Bitcoin model of Tether (USDT) was one of many first stablecoins ever created. The Bitcoin Money (BCH) and Kusama (KSM) variations will even be discontinued, in line with an Aug. 17 announcement from the group.
At present #Tether declares the ending of the assist of three blockchains $USDt: OmniLayer, BCH-SLP and Kusama.
Clients will be capable of proceed to redeem and swap $USDt tokens (to a different of the various supported blockchains), however Tether will not subject any new extra $USDt on these 3… https://t.co/aghLgqtSuO— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) August 17, 2023
Based on the announcement, no new Tether tokens might be issued on the Bitcoin Omni Layer, Kusama or Bitcoin Money going ahead. Redemptions will stay obtainable for a minimum of a 12 months, and the corporate will subject additional bulletins earlier than the 12 months passes as to the way it will deal with redemptions after that time.
The Bitcoin Omni Layer is a great contract system constructed on prime of the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain. Initially known as “Mastercoin,” it was launched in July 2013, a full two years earlier than Ethereum. Omni Layer Tether turned the primary stablecoin to be launched on the system in October 2014. It shortly grew to be the very best market cap stablecoin, surpassing earlier stablecoins reminiscent of BitUSD and NuBits.
In its Aug. 17 announcement, Tether sought to acknowledge the necessary historic function that Omni Layer Tether performed in crypto historical past, stating:
“We perceive the importance of this resolution, notably for Omni, because it was the primary transport layer that Tether utilized in 2014. The Omni Layer, constructed on prime of Bitcoin, performed an important function in Tether’s early journey, and we acknowledge the contributions and improvements the group has made to the crypto panorama.”
Associated: PayPal’s stablecoin opens door for crypto adoption in traditional finance
Nonetheless, the group acknowledged that the Omni Layer “confronted challenges because of the lack of in style tokens and the provision of USDT on different blockchains.” This led exchanges to make use of different transport layers as a substitute of Omni, which in flip led to a decline in USDT Omni utilization and compelled the corporate to finish its issuance.
Tether claimed that it might contemplate reissuing the Omni Layer model if utilization of Omni picks up. The corporate additionally acknowledged that it’s engaged on a brand new Bitcoin good contract system known as “RGB” and that it plans to reissue Tether in an RGB model as soon as it’s accomplished, bringing Tether again to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Competitors between stablecoins has been heating up in 2023, difficult Tether’s dominance. PayPal released its PayPal USD (PYUSD) on Aug. 7, and Binance listed First Digital USD (FDUSD) on July 26.
