Tether Integrates USDT on TON Network, Targets 900 Million Telegram Users

Tether, the stablecoin company, has launched native USDT, the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, on The Open Network (TON). With this addition, over 900 million Telegram users can seamlessly transfer digital dollars, without having to type crypto addresses. 11 million TON will be distributed among USDT users on TON to incentivize its adoption in the ecosystem.

Tether Launches on TON Offering Seamless Integration With Telegram Wallet

Telegram, the messaging protocol, is getting a stablecoin. Tether, one of the largest cryptocurrency companies, has launched its USDT stablecoin as a native token on The Open Network (TON). The integration will benefit over 900 million users of Telegram with seamless transactions using the app-integrated wallet. Instead of typing a cryptocurrency address, Telegram users can send digital dollars to other users directly, lowering the barrier for crypto onboarding.

The partnership’s goal, which targets global adoption, is to “onboard hundreds of millions of cryptocurrency users to Web3,” according to a press release from the TON foundation. To achieve this, the foundation stated that it optimized USDT’s smart contract to reduce the fees. Each USDT transaction will pay a fee of $0.10, a fraction of what the same transaction costs in other popular blockchains.

As happened with Celo before, these fees will be able to be paid in USDT, making it easier to transact without owning the native currency of the network. Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO, remarked on the importance of this integration, stating that the implementation of USDT in TON “can match even the traditional financial system.”

He stated:

This furthers our mission of powering open financial infrastructure across the blockchain space.

To incentivize the usage of USDT across TON, the TON foundation has allocated 11 Million TON (approx $69 million) to incentivize the adoption of USDT on the chain. 5 million TON will be delivered as yield for users having USDT in their Telegram wallets, and 5 million TON will be used to boost rewards for liquidity providers on Ston.fi and Dedust, two of the largest TON exchanges.

Finally, 1.2 million TON will provide free withdrawals from major centralized exchanges to the TON network.