- Tether has launched USDT on the OMG Network, joining seven others
- The move has been in the works for some 11 weeks
- Tether used the move to savage the Ethereum network
Tether has officially launched on the OMG Network (OMG), taking its tally of networks to eight. Tether announced the move on June 1 but have only launched this week, meaning that USDT tokens can now be transacted on OMG Network alongside the likes of Omni, Ethereum, EOS, Tron, and Algorand. In the post announcing the move, the world’s biggest stablecoin couldn’t resist having a dig at Ethereum and its recent congestion problems.
When #Tether? Well, now! Happy to announce that users will be able to withdraw and deposit @Tether_to #USDt to @Bitfinex via @OMGNetworkHQ, helping reduce #EthereumCongestion and lower gas fees for everyone! 🥳 https://t.co/zlAxRsIt8t
— OMG Network (@omgnetworkhq) August 19, 2020
Faster and Cheaper USDT Transactions
Tether announced the addition of OMG yesterday in a post which was more savage on Ethereum than it was complimentary about OMG. Tether said that launching on OMG would “result in a reduction of confirmation times delivering faster payments while fees will be reduced without compromising on-chain security.”
Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether, added that the migration would benefit everyone, including Ethereum:
By migrating USDt value transfers to the OMG Network we save costs, drive performance improvements and relieve pressure on the root chain network. This is good for Bitfinex and our customers, and the whole Ethereum ecosystem.
Tether Savages Ethereum Congestion Issues
This veiled attack on Ethereum got more savage later in the post, with Tether criticizing Ethereum’s poor response to heavy network demand, saying that it is “vulnerable to severe network congestion”, pointing to the crypto price crash that occurred in March as an example:
One such extreme congestion event occurred in March this year when the price of Ethereum crashed from $240 to $107, liquidating more than $10 billion from the market. The huge spike in demand from users looking to trade in response to the volatile price swings resulted in average network waiting times rising from 15 seconds to 44 minutes.
OMG relies on plasma technology that batches several transactions into one block and charges a lower fee to conduct the transaction, potentially taking the weight of USDT transactions off the Ethereum network.
Tether announced that Bitfinex users will be able to deposit and withdraw USDT tokens on the OMG Network immediately, with other exchanges expected to follow suit in due course.
