The Ethereum Merge slated to happen in September is already receiving support from the crypto sector. The issuer of the USDT stablecoin, Tether, has already confirmed it will support the Merge.
Tether announces support for Ethereum Merge
Shortly after the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Circle, announced that it would support Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake, Tether also issued a similar announcement. The stablecoin issuer has confirmed that it will support the Ethereum Merge upgrade.
In the announcement shared on Tuesday, Tether said that the Merge was one of the “most significant moments in blockchain history.” The company also said it would work within the upgrade schedule. Ethereum developers have already set September 19 as the tentative date for the Merge.
Tether also said it was embracing the Merge to ensure there would be no disruption to the community when using its tokens within DeFi platforms. The stablecoin issuer also noted that it was important that the Merge was not weaponized.
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While this is the official statement from Tether, the chief technology officer at the company, Paolo Ardoino, had already confirmed that Tether would support the post-Merge Eth2. Tether is currently the largest stablecoin in crypto, with a market cap of around $66.6 billion. Its largest competitor is Circle’s USDC which has a market cap of $54.1 billion.
The two stablecoins have an ample circulating supply within the current Ethereum proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain. USDT’s circulating supply is $32.3 billion, while the USDC circulating supply is $45.1 billion.
Stablecoins’ role in the Merge
With the sheer size of these stablecoins and their heavy presence within the crypto market, their support of the Ethereum Merge is significant. The support could see a smooth transition for the entire crypto sector to Ethereum 2.0.
The co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, Vitalik Buterin, had earlier warned that the power held by stablecoins could cause issues in future blockchain hard forks. According to Buterin, centralized institutions like Tether and Circle could choose to use the forked blockchain to fit their own needs instead of focusing on the proposals made by the Ethereum community.
This week, Ethereum will undergo the final trial for the Merge. The Goerli testnet will launch this week, and if everything goes as planned, the Merge date will likely be September 19, as predicted by the Ethereum developers.
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Source: https://insidebitcoins.com/news/tether-confirms-it-will-support-the-ethereum-merge