Two major crypto exchanges — Singapore-headquartered Huobi Global and Malta-based OKEx — have announced their support for the Tron-based version of stablecoin Tether. The developments were announced in two official announcements, both published on March 21.
In early March, blockchain protocol Tron (TRX) and Tether, issuer of stalwart stablecoins USDT and EURT, announced their partnership to issue a TRC-20-based USDT — a term that indicates adherence to a technical token standard supported by the Tron blockchain. The new token is designed to be interoperable with all Tron-based protocols and decentralized applications to improve liquidity in the ecosystem.
In their respective announcements, both Huobi Global and OKEx cite user needs and demands for a full spectrum of stablecoin trading, with both noting their platforms now support three separate protocol versions of USDT — the Bitcoin network-based USDT-Omni, Ethereum-powered USDT-ERC-20 and the new USDT-TRON.
Whereas both OKEx and Huobi are among the world’s leading centralized crypto exchanges — ranked 3rd and 14th by adjusted daily trade volume respectively to press time — Tron and Tether have emphasized that the beneficiaries of USDT-TRON are intended to be traders on Tron-powered Decentralised Exchanges (DEX).
In other reported Tron developments, blockchain consultant and co-founder of Tron community project IamDecentralized.org, Misha Lederman, suggested on March 20 that the launch of USDT-TRON is slated for the coming weeks and months of Q2. Another reported development is the introduction of privacy options for TRX blockchain transactions and “institutional-friendly multi-signature & account management.”
Lederman has also claimed the Bittorrent Speed ecosystem is reportedly set to launch within this time frame, which will reward users of the popular peer-to-peer torrent client BitTorrent with Tron-based BitTorrent (BTT) tokens in exchange for seeding and bandwidth, enabling faster torrent downloads.
As reported, Tron first confirmed its acquisition of BitTorrent in July 2018. The latter launched its native BTT token at the start of 2019, which will power the pair’s plans for an evolving decentralized content distribution platform.
In recent Tether news, the coin’s issuer has faced increased scrutiny after social media users noticed the firm had removed previous claims that the stablecoin was fully backed by United States dollars. The coin has faced long-standing controversy, after critics had suggested that the dollar reserves did not match the amount of tokens in circulation. Last December, Bloomberg stated that it believes Tether does have the appropriate amount of fiat reserves. Tether has not released an official audit of its holdings to date.