Tether’s USDT to Launch on Layer 1 Aptos

Tether, the issuer of the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, said it will introduce its U.S. dollar-pegged token, USDT, on Layer 1 Aptos.

USDT’s integration on the Aptos blockchain will bring low gas fees, “costing only a fraction of a penny,” Tether said in a statement on Monday.

“The team at Tether is excited to integrate and collaborate with the Aptos ecosystem, enhancing our commitment to making digital currencies more accessible and functional,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.

Aptos’s APT token is up almost 2% to $5.95 today, while Bitcoin and Ether decline.

Tether’s USDT is hosted on several blockchains. Tron has the largest net circulation with $60.73 billion, followed by Ethereum with $52.59 billion. Other notable blockchains include Avalanche with $1.34 billion, Solana with $712.16 million, and Ton with $619.67 million.

USDT Costs

A closer look at the gas fees for transferring USDT on top networks shows that on Ethereum, the average cost in August is $0.62 per transfer, while on the Tron network, it is typically less than $0.01 per transfer. For USDT transfers on Solana, the cost ranges from $0.002 to $0.028. On Aptos, Tether notes that the gas fee would be less than $0.01.

Mo Shaikh, CEO of Aptos Labs, said that this partnership is set to leverage Aptos’ ability to handle large volumes of transactions, which will expand its user base rapidly.

“The integration of Tether’s USDT marks a significant milestone for Aptos,” said Shaikh. “This collaboration will leverage Aptos’ capability to process massive volumes and rapidly grow its user base.”

Aptos is co-founded by former engineers Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching from Meta (formerly Facebook), who were involved in the development of the Diem (formerly Libra) blockchain.

Aptos Activity

Data from the Artemis terminal indicates that daily transactions on the Aptos blockchain reached an all-time high of 326 million on Aug. 15. This surge can be attributed to Tapos, a cat clicker game on the Aptos network, which records every click on-chain.

However, by Aug. 18, activity had significantly decreased to 723,000 daily transactions.

Despite the spike in daily transactions, Aptos has not seen a significant increase in active users. In fact, the number of daily active addresses on the Aptos network has decreased to 147,000 from 1.2 million on June 8, according to data from Artemis terminal. This decline indicates that the increase in transactions is likely driven by the game mechanics of Tapos.

According to data from DeFiLlama, Aptos boasts a total value locked (TVL) of $358 million.