Binance to convert 3 billion USDT from TRON to Ethereum with the participation of Tether

What’s new? Tether (the issuer of the USDT stablecoin) has announced a swap at the request of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In total, Tether plans to convert 3 billion USDT from the TRON blockchain (TRC-20 standard) to the Ethereum network (ERC-20), the company’s official Twitter reports. According to Tether’s blog, exchanges can turn to the company with an exchange request in cases when they face a surplus of funds on one blockchain and a deficit on another.

In few minutes Tether will coordinate with Binance to perform a chain swap, converting from Tron to Ethereum ERC20, for 3B USDt. The #tether total supply will not change during this process.Learn more about chain swaps ⬇️https://t.co/abfgnELSvi — Tether (@Tether_to) December 13, 2022

What else is known? Tether noted that the conversion process will not affect the total supply of tokens. The USDT stablecoin is currently being issued on five blockchains: Omni, Ethereum, TRON, EOSIO, and Liquid. This allows traders to use the asset on any of the supported networks and conduct trades, transfers, and other operations. Users can exchange small amounts of USDT on their own on an exchange that supports two or more blockchains from this list.

The asset is the largest centralized stablecoin on the cryptocurrency market. As of December 13, at 14:45 UTC, the market capitalization of USDT exceeds $65,7 billion, according to aggregator CoinGecko.

On December 13, Binance limited the withdrawal of USDC stablecoins. The head of the exchange Changpeng Zhao explained this by the increased demand for USDC and the temporary inability to contact the bank in the United States. In this, customers are able to withdraw in BUSD and USDT. The request to convert USDT from TRON to Ethereum could be due to increased demand for the asset on that network. In addition, readers of the Telegram channel MarketTwits reported temporary problems with the withdrawal of USDT to Ethereum.

At the same time, WSJ reporters reported that Binance faced an increase in withdrawals. The net outflow in the last 24 hours amounted to $1,6 billion.

In late November, Tether announced the transfer of 1 billion USDT from the Solana blockchain to the Ethereum network. An unnamed third party was involved in the exchange. The reason for the withdrawal of USDT from Solana was the blockchain’s association with the bankrupt firm Alameda Research.