Major Cryptocurrency Tether Disconnects From Five Primary Blockchains in Surprising Strategic Alteration, Leaving a $110 Billion Impact
Tether Announces End of Support for Five Blockchains by September 2025
Tether, the stablecoin giant, has announced a significant shift in its strategy, preparing to withdraw support from five blockchains: Omni, Bitcoin Cash SLP (Simple Ledger Protocol), Kusama (KSM), EOS, and Algorand (ALGO) by September 1, 2025. This move is aimed at accelerating the deployment of faster features like real-time payment rails, automated remittances, and AI-backed financial infrastructure.
The decision, however, is not without controversy. Concerns have been raised about potential short-term confusion for users and questions about centralization. Nevertheless, Tether remains committed to infrastructure that offers ultra-high-speed transaction processing and seamless access to financial products.
With this change, Tether will cease all redemptions and token activity on the affected chains. EOS and Algorand USDT wallets had less than 1% rolling activity per month in 2024-2025. Notably, there has been a 95% decrease in USDT supply on Omni since 2021, and developer contributions to SLP and Omni repositories have stagnated or ceased entirely.
For users holding USDT on these blockchains, there are two main options:
- Redeem or transfer USDT to supported blockchains: Users should move their USDT to a supported blockchain like Ethereum, Tron, Solana, or Layer-2 solutions (such as Lightning Network), where Tether will continue issuing and redeeming tokens.
- Use Tether’s official platform or supported exchanges: Tether offers official services to facilitate “reissuing” USDT from the legacy chains onto active blockchains, ensuring continued usability and liquidity.
Failing to move USDT off Omni, SLP, Kusama, EOS, or Algorand before the cutoff means those tokens will become permanently unusable as transfers and redemptions will be blocked by Tether.
Tether's rationale for this change is to focus on blockchains with better scalability, developer engagement, and community adoption, improving operational efficiency by discontinuing support on blockchains with minimal USDT activity.
In the competitive stablecoin market, Tether's move comes as Circle's USDC expands on Ethereum Layer 2s, MakerDAO's DAI becomes more composable through multi-chain vaults, and new entrants like Ethena's USDe and GHO by Aave innovate on yield and protocol-native backing.
Users are strongly advised to act promptly to avoid permanent loss of their USDT holdings on these legacy chains.
| Option | Description | Outcome | |---------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------| | Redeem or transfer to supported chains | Move USDT from Omni, SLP, Kusama, EOS, or Algorand before Sept 1, 2025 | Continued access and use | | Use official Tether services or exchanges | Convert USDT on legacy chains to supported blockchains | Seamless transition | | Do nothing | Leave USDT on affected blockchains after deadline | USDT frozen, no access |
[1] Tether Blog: https://tether.to/blog/tether-announces-end-of-support-for-usdt-on-omni-and-bch-slp [2] Coindesk: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/03/15/tether-to-end-support-for-usdt-on-omni-and-bch-slp-by-sept-2025/ [3] Cointelegraph: https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-to-drop-support-for-usdt-on-omni-and-bch-slp-by-sept-2025
- Tether, the prominent stablecoin entity, is withdrawing support from five blockchains: Omni, Bitcoin Cash SLP, Kusama, EOS, and Algorand by September 2025, as per their recent announcement.
- This strategy change by Tether is aimed at accelerating deployment of features such as real-time payment rails, automated remittances, and AI-backed financial infrastructure.
- Users holding USDT on these blockchains have two main options: redeem or transfer USDT to supported blockchains or use Tether’s official platform or supported exchanges for a seamless transition.
- Failing to move USDT off these blockchains before the cutoff will result in the tokens becoming permanently unusable as transfers and redemptions will be blocked by Tether.
- To continue accessing and using their USDT holdings, users should move their USDT to a supported blockchain like Ethereum, Tron, Solana, or Layer-2 solutions before September 1, 2025.
- Tether's rationale for this change is to focus on blockchains with better scalability, developer engagement, and community adoption, improving operational efficiency by discontinuing support on blockchains with minimal USDT activity.
- In the competitive stablecoin market, Tether's move comes as Circle's USDC expands on Ethereum Layer 2s, MakerDAO's DAI becomes more composable through multi-chain vaults, and new entrants like Ethena's USDe and GHO by Aave innovate on yield and protocol-native backing.
- It is advised for users to act promptly to avoid permanent loss of their USDT holdings on these legacy chains.
