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A measure of relief for astronomical Ethereum gas fees may finally be at hand.
Tether announced today the launch of USDT stablecoin transfers on the OMG Network, one of the first viable Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions. The launch will bring increased speeds and reduce transaction costs for Tether transfers, currently the number one source of transactions on the Ethereum network.
If meaningful volume from Tether transfers shifts to the OMG network, it could generate a much needed reduction in the fees paid to interact with the Ethereum blockchain.
Thailand-based OMG Network evolved from OmiseGo, a peer-to-peer payment network that raised $25 million in a 2017 ICO. The network launched in June 2020 and facilitates transfers of ERC20 tokens at a fraction of the cost of current Ethereum gas prices.
The Tether integration was initially announced in June, with the actual Tether transfer capabilities launching today. The rollout will also enable OMG Network users to deposit and withdraw USDT directly to the centralized Bitfinex exchange. Tether is a subsidiary of iFinex Inc, which also operates the Bitfinex exchange.
“At Tether we are committed to driving innovation and improvements to our service to better support our customers,” Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement.
“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.”
Dollar-pegged Tether is by far the largest stablecoin by total supply, with more than 12 billion Tethers currently in circulation. Tether has been the leading source of Ethereum transactions for several months, accounting for approximately 14% of all transactions broadcast to the network according to data from blockchain research firm Glassnode.
In May, OMG Network’s OMG token was listed on Coinbase, prompting a 25% spike in the token price. The June network launch coinciding with the announcement that Tether would be integrated saw a further 18% jump, and today’s actual launch of the integration has pushed OMG up another 26% on hopes of widespread adoption of the Layer 2 scaling solution.
Year to date, OMG is up more than 400%.
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