Tether is back in business. Its stablecoin platform, which has lain dormant since last year, is to reopen for fiat deposits and tether (USDT) redemption. The move, described by Tether as a “new vision,” ought to return its stablecoin to the parameters it was originally designed to meet. With a minimum fiat deposit of $100,000, however, Tether’s service will be off-limits to retail investors.
Also read: Binance Moves Away From Tether
Tether Relaunches Direct Service
Predictions of tether’s demise may have been exaggerated. Within 24 hours of Binance removing tether’s position as its reference BTC-USD pair in favor of a weighting of stablecoins, Tether has relaunched. In a declaration that it is open for business — namely the business of accepting fiat currency deposits and redeeming them for USDT — Tether has reactivated its platform. This will enable new customers to complete verification and existing ones to purchase tethers directly.
In an announcement on Nov. 27, Tether described the news as “an important step in Tether’s journey” and a return to “its original vision of having a wallet for creating and redeeming directly on its own platform without having to rely on a third party.” Customers will be able to exchange tether for fiat with immediate effect, with the reverse option to be added soon.
New Fee Structure and Minimum Deposit Set
Tether’s new banking arrangement with Deltec has been pivotal in enabling it to resurrect its native platform. There is a catch though: Customers will need to deposit or redeem a minimum of $100,000. As a result, the service will be of little interest to retail investors. Instead, Tether has spoken of the “professional investor audience” that will have the means to deposit hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars at a time. Each fiat deposit will incur a 0.1 percent fee, while fiat withdrawals will be charged at 1 percent up until $10 million and 3 percent thereafter.
To coincide with the news of the revitalized Tether platform, Bitfinex and Ethfinex have announced the introduction of tether-fiat trading pairs. USDT-USD and EURT-EUR will be available on both exchanges in a move which Bitfinex has glibly described as “continuing [its] heritage of providing a neutral, coin-agnostic platform.” Since the news was announced, the so-called tether premium has dropped to just over 3 percent, meaning that BTC is currently trading around $120 higher than average on USDT-only exchanges.
Given the reluctance of institutional investors to onboard using USDT, and the high minimum deposit threshold, it remains to be seen how much demand there is for Tether’s fully functional platform.
What are your thoughts on Tether’s relaunched platform? Let us know in the comments section below.
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