Tether Cuts Off 5 Main Blockchains in Surprising Strategic Shift

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Tether to finish $USDT help on 5 blockchains : Omni, Bitcoin Money SLP, Kusama, EOS, and Algorand can be phased out by September 1, 2025. Strategic shift to trendy networks : The corporate is redirecting assets towards scalable, developer-active ecosystems and Layer 2s like Lightning. Customers should act now : USDT holders on affected chains are urged to redeem or migrate their tokens earlier than the freeze deadline. Tether, the world’s most influential stablecoin issuer, has launched an enormous improve to its infrastructure which is anticipated to alter the best way that $USDT will flow into throughout the crypto ecosystem. The corporate introduced it's planning to stop help for 5 old-school blockchains – Omni, Bitcoin Money SLP, Kusama, EOS, and Algorand – as of September 1, 2025. That is an aggressive shift to extra environment friendly, excessive demand, and technically advancing networks.

Right here’s what to find out about this seismic change, what it means for cryptocurrency customers and what lies forward for the stablecoin superpower.

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Legacy Chains Dropped: A Strategic Infrastructure Reset Tether made the announcement as a part of an ongoing overview of its infrastructure and mentioned it had seen important decreases within the quantity of transactions and in group curiosity on the 5 blockchains in query. All redemptions, and token exercise on these networks will stop in time for the September deadline.

Affected Chains:

Omni LayerBitcoin Money SLP (Easy Ledger Protocol)Kusama (KSM)EOSAlgorand (ALGO) Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, defined the choice in an organization assertion:

“Sunsetting help for these legacy chains permits us to deal with platforms that supply better scalability, developer exercise, and group engagement, all key elements for driving the subsequent wave of stablecoin adoption.”

The transfer is not only about deprecation. It’s a deliberate reallocation of technical and operational assets towards newer blockchains and Layer 2 ecosystems, the place actual utilization and developer traction are rising.

What Ought to Customers Do Earlier than September 1? Pressing Motion Required for USDT Holders Tether has suggested all affected customers whether or not retail holders or institutional shoppers to take instant motion. Relying in your standing, you’ll have two choices:

Official Prospects : Redeem current USDT on the 5 chains immediately via Tether or request issuance on a at present supported community like Ethereum, Tron, or Solana. Non-Prospects : Use a third-party service supplier that helps migration from these blockchains. Every supplier’s coverage and phrases will apply. If holders fail emigrate earlier than the deadline, remaining tokens on these chains can be frozen , rendering them non-transferable and non-redeemable.

Tether emphasised that each one redemptions should adjust to its Phrases of Service.

Why Tether Is Transferring On from These Chains Utilization Decline and Market Realignment Omni, SLP and EOS had been key to Tether’s early growth, however that has not been the case in years. As knowledge from market analytics companies like Messari and Santiment shows:

There was over a 95% lower in USDT provide on Omni since 2021 EOS and Algorand USDT wallets had lower than 1% rolling exercise per 30 days in 2024 – 2025 Developer contributions to SLP and Omni repositories have stagnated or ceased solely This lack of progress and engagement made these networks cost-inefficient for continued help. As a substitute of sustaining fragmented infrastructure, Tether is streamlining to deal with chains with confirmed utility and developer momentum.

Learn Extra: Tether Companions with Zanzibar to Promote Stablecoin Adoption and Blockchain Coaching

Layer 2s and Rising Chains within the Highlight Tether is not only decreasing, it’s repositioning .

The corporate is ramping up help for:

Bitcoin’s Lightning NetworkSolanaEthereum Layer 2s (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism) DeFi-focused blockchains like Avalanche, Polygon, and Close to These even have decrease charges, higher throughput and are extra actively developed – all of that are intently in step with Tether’s plans to have USDT used throughout DeFi, micro-payments and cross-border transactions.

Tether has additionally made a robust dedication to infrastructure that provides the benefits of ultra-high-speed transaction processing and seamless entry to monetary merchandise.

Analysts Weigh in: A Essential however Dangerous Name? This transfer is just not universally seen as a purely optimistic one.

Kevin Mehrabi, founding father of StableTech, famous:

“Whereas the shift away from underused chains is smart, there’s a danger in how customers, particularly these unaware or sluggish to behave, can be affected by the freeze. It’s a trade-off between long-term effectivity and short-term confusion.”

Others have questioned whether or not sunsetting tokens on public ledgers, even for inactive chains, may increase issues about centralization. However Tether maintains that sensible contract freezes are a part of accountable provide administration and person safety.

What This Means for the Stablecoin Race Tether’s newest transfer reinforces its dedication to dominance via agility . With over $110 billion in circulating USDT as of July 2025, the agency controls greater than 60% of the stablecoin market. But, competitors is mounting.

Circle’s USDC continues to develop on Ethereum Layer 2s MakerDAO’s DAI is changing into extra composable via multi-chain vaults New entrants like Ethena’s USDe and GHO by Aave are innovating on yield and protocol-native backing By shedding technical baggage, Tether is making ready for sooner deployment of options like real-time cost rails, automated remittances, and AI-backed monetary infrastructure, all areas talked about in current investor briefings.