Stablecoin issuer Tether declined to give a definitive response regarding whether it would terminate its support for the Tron network following its competitor Circle’s cessation of stablecoin minting on the blockchain on Tuesday, February 20.
“Tether tokens are issued on several blockchains, which are simply transport layers for such tokens,” Tether stated in a communication with Cointelegraph when questioned about Circle and whether Tether was contemplating a similar action.
“Tether retains the ability to freeze transactions on each directly supported transport layer to accomplish its compliance duties.
Nevertheless, Tether actively monitors the safety of each one of the supported transport layers to ensure the highest standards for our community,” the firm articulated.
Tether holds the position as the largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $97.7 billion, while Circle’s USD Coin trails at $28 billion, as per CoinGecko data.
The Tron network accommodates over 51.8 billion USDT, representing over half of the nearly 101 billion USDT tokens issued across multiple blockchains, according to Tether’s transparency report dated February 21.
Moreover, an additional $76.2 million is allocated to provide near-term liquidity for the token on the Tron network.
Tether’s remarks were prompted by an announcement from Circle on February 20, disclosing the immediate cessation of USDC minting on Tron and the gradual withdrawal of support for the network, asserting that the decision aligns with “efforts to ensure that USDC remains trusted, transparent, and safe.”
In January, a United Nations report suggested that “USDT on the Tron blockchain has become a preferred choice” for cyber fraud and money laundering in Southeast Asia owing to the “ease, anonymity, and low fees of its transactions.”
Tether refuted the report, stating that the UN overlooked USDT’s traceability and the firm’s history of collaboration with law enforcement.
It highlighted that it froze over $300 million worth of USDT used in illicit activities “within the last few months,” including $225 million frozen in November 2023 as part of a United States investigation into a Southeast Asian human trafficking syndicate.
Ethics watchdog group Campaign for Accountability penned a letter to United States senators in November 2023, alleging Tron “has been named in multiple international law enforcement actions involving billions of dollars in transactions by alleged organised crime groups and sanctioned entities.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission initiated legal action against the Tron Foundation and founder Justin Sun in March 2023, alleging they offered unregistered securities and engaged in manipulative trading, contentions that Sun denies.
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