Tether Expands Stablecoins to TON Network, Aiming to Enhance Peer-to-Peer Payments

In a significant move to foster peer-to-peer payments, Tether has announced the expansion of its dollar-pegged and gold-backed stablecoins, USDT and XAUT, onto The Open Network (TON). This initiative is set to facilitate seamless transactions among Telegram's vast user base and invigorate the TON ecosystem with new financial utilities.

During the Dubai 2049 conference, Tether revealed its plans to natively integrate USDT, which has a market cap of $108 billion, and its gold-backed counterpart XAUT onto TON, a blockchain closely linked with the messaging app Telegram. As of now, Tether's transparency page indicates an authorization of $10 million worth of USDT on the TON blockchain, with $3 million already issued.

This strategic expansion is designed to leverage Telegram's nearly 900 million users for borderless, peer-to-peer payments while boosting decentralized finance (DeFi) applications within the TON ecosystem. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that this development aims to enhance liquidity and activity on the network, offering a financial experience akin to traditional systems and advancing the mission of powering open financial infrastructure across the blockchain space.

The integration also coincides with the growing adoption of TON, evidenced by a significant increase in monthly active addresses and the recent adoption of toncoin (TON) for payment on Telegram's advertisement platform.