Tether Halts USDT Freezes Across Five Major Blockchains in Surprise Move

Tether just slammed the brakes on wallet freezes—five chains suddenly operating without the freeze function. No more asset immobilization on these networks, marking a seismic shift in how stablecoin control gets exercised.

Behind the Protocol Shift

The change impacts transactions across multiple ecosystems—where frozen funds once meant compliance, now there's operational freedom. Tether's decision effectively removes a layer of centralized oversight, something that’ll have regulators squinting and traders cheering.

Implications for Crypto Liquidity

Increased fluidity could mean fewer transactional hiccups—immediate access, no waiting on thawed approvals. But let’s be real: in crypto, less control usually means more volatility, and somebody’s always ready to exploit that. Classic finance might call it reckless; here, we call it Tuesday.

Because nothing says 'stable' like unpredictably changing the rules—especially when it involves $68 billion in market cap. Just another day in digital finance, where the only thing more stable than the coin is the irony.

Tether suspends plan to freeze USDT on five blockchains

According to Tether, while users can still transfer tokens on these blockchains, it will discontinue direct issuance and redemption on these chains. “This means the tokens will no longer be officially supported as other Tether tokens,” the company said. The initial plan was to end support for users on these chains on September 1.

The decision is in line with Tether’s broader strategy to remain focused on expanding support for crypto ecosystems, adding strong developer activity, scalability, and use demand without completely abandoning the chains it has supported for a long time. According to Tether, only a small smart contract-based layer–1 blockchains have been able to successfully achieve large-scale user adoption while offering practical uses, such as Tron and Ethereum.

Tron and Ethereum are the two chains that Tether supports the most. Tron boasts $80 billion, while Ethereum has $72 billion worth of USDT circulating supply. Meanwhile, BNB Chain rounds up the top three, boasting $6.78 billion, according to data from DeFiLlama. Solana and other Ethereum layer-2 chains, Arbitrum and Base, are among the other successful crypto ecosystems with good stablecoin activity, though they use Circle’s USDC stablecoins rather than USDT.

Omni Layer will be the most affected chain

A review of USDT balances across the affected blockchains shows that Omni Layer will be the most affected, considering it holds a net circulation of $82.9 million USDT. Other networks boast smaller participation, with EOS seeing $4.2 million, while Bitcoin Cash SLP and the others boast a little under $1 million worth of USDT. Tether mentioned that the decision to pull its weight from these chains has been in the works for about two years.

In August 2023, the company announced it would no longer issue USDT on Omni Layer, Kusama, and bitcoin Cash SLP. In June 2024, Tether stopped minting on EOS and Algorand. The total market cap of stablecoins is currently around $285.9 billion, with USDT and USDC leading at $167.4 billion and $71 billion, respectively, according to data from CoinGecko.

Last Month, United States President Donald TRUMP signed the GENIUS Act into law, with many analysts noting that it will help the US dollar’s dominance by promoting stablecoins pegged to the dollar, rivaling other currencies, and reinforcing the dollar’s role as the world’s leading reserve currency. The United States Department of the Treasury expected the stablecoin market to grow to $2 trillion by 2028.

“The entire crypto community, for years, you were mocked and dismissed and counted out, you were counted out as little as a year and a half ago, but this signing is a massive validation … of your hard work and your pioneering spirit,” said Trump.

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