Tether or USDT is one of the top cryptocurrencies that curtails the unpredictability factor usually associated with Bitcoin and Ethereum. There is absolutely no doubt about Bitcoin being volatile in nature. Although Bitcoin pioneered the cryptocurrency space with the help of Blockchain technology that powers the entire ecosystem, it does not, however, offer the stability that so many cryptocurrency enthusiasts often desire.
What is Tether?
To put it simply, Tether is a cryptocurrency that can be used almost exactly the way fiat money such as a dollar or a euro is used. In fact, Tether does exactly what its name sounds like: It simply aims to bridge the gap between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies over the blockchain network. Tether falls under the category of stablecoins. Before we delve deeper into what Tether as a cryptocurrency is all about and what is it that Tether is actually trying to fix, we need to understand the concept of stablecoins.
How Tether came into existence?
Launched in November 2014, Tether happens to be the most popular among all the stablecoins. It was founded by Brock Pierce, Craig Sellars, and Reeve Collins who formed a simple premise for a cryptocurrency, which was to provide a token that represented a fiat currency at a 1:1 ratio. Tether also hoped to combine its stablecoin with the cross-border payments facilitated by blockchain technology. It started as an OmniLayer platform, which is a fully decentralized platform that is built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. Eventually, the popularity of Tether started to grow and it also added support for other platforms such as ERC20, Tron (TRC20), EOS, etc.
What makes Tether so popular?
The reason why Tether is immensely popular among cryptocurrency traders is that many of them actually use USDT as a substitute for a dollar (USD). It also enables easy transfer between cryptocurrency exchanges and other platforms. And since USDT transactions don’t go through the banking system which makes it appealing for the unbanked population, Tether transfers are usually considered easy to process, without worrying about price fluctuations. Given Tether’s popularity among the crypto community members, traders rarely face any issues finding exchanges that specialize in dealing with Tether.
Should you be using Tether?
If you are more into peer-to-peer marketplaces, Tether is a highly common payment method there. Despite all the reasons why you might want to accept payments in Tether, a lot of people remain skeptical about the Tether coin. The basis of this skepticism has a lot to do with the trust in the Tether ecosystem. For instance, some people are unsure if the Tether coin is actually backed by US dollars. Reportedly, Tether was also called out for trying to artificially inflate the price of Bitcoin.
Read more about types of Tether and Tether as a payment method in the NOWPayments blog!
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