USDT Launches on Kusama, Polkadot Next

The largest stablecoin and third largest cryptocurrency in the world enters a scalable network of specialized blockchains.

Built by the same teams as Polkadot and using very similar code, Kusama often serves as a testing ground before Polkadot deployment. Indeed, Polkadot is likely to be the next network in Tether’s portfolio, although Peter Mauric, head of public affairs at Parity Technologies, told CoinDesk that the timeline was yet to be determined.

In a statement, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino said he was “excited” about the launch and praised UDST as “the most liquid, stable, and trusted stablecoin in the digital token space,” while also recognizing Kusama’s dedication to “decentralized, permissionless ecosystems.” The launch is expected to allow builders to “compose trustless applications across chains, communities and networks.”

Apart from Kusama, Tether is live on Ethereum, Solana, Algorand, and Tron, among other networks. The stablecoin has seen a steady rise in market capitalization since early February, surpassing $80 billion on March 7.

Tether's market capitalization. Source: CoinMarketCap