UPDATED 21:54 EST / MARCH 04 2019

BLOCKCHAIN

TRON gets into bed with Tether to launch new version of USDT ‘stablecoin’

The cryptocurrency industry has seen strange bedfellows over the years, and here’s a new one: Controversial “stablecoin” provider Tether is gotten into bed with the TRON Foundation to offer Tether’s USDT on the TRON blockchain.

Under the deal, a new version of the Tether USDT stablecoin will be listed on the TRON blockchain as a TRC-20 token, allowing users to transact more easily with decentralized applications and protocols based on the TRON blockchain.

A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency that’s tied to physical assets, in this case the U.S. dollar, and used as a fixed-price intermediary cryptocurrency to acquire other blockchain-based assets. The idea has long been controversial.

Although USDT is the most popular stablecoin going back years, some have accused Tether and its founding company Bitfinex of not actually holding U.S. dollars in reserve to back the coin’s value.

The allegations were such that it was reported in November that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating Tether. A later report in December claimed that bank statements proved that the Tether Foundation did hold U.S. dollars in reserve. But the Justice Department investigation, which is also looking into bitcoin price manipulation, is believed to be ongoing.

TRON, a competitor to the Ethereum blockchain in that it offers not just its own cryptocurrency but also a blockchain on which others can offer services, debuted in December 2017. Initially pitched as a free, global digital content entertainment system with distributed storage technology, TRON has continued to evolve with time, though still with a focus on digital content.

TRON started to gain wider attention when founder Justin Sun acquired BitTorrent Inc. for $140 million in June.

“Adding Tether to its blockchain enables TRON to greatly elevate its existing decentralized applications (DApps) ecosystem, improve overall value storage, and increase Decentralised Exchange (DEX) liquidity,” Tether said in a statement. “It also makes the blockchain more accessible to the enterprise-level partners and institutional investors.”

Despite being tied to the U.S. dollar, Tether trades on open markets, most notably dropping below its pegged $1 in trading in October.

Tether was trading at $1.01 as of 9:45 p.m. EST, according to Coinbase, about where it should be. TRON was trading at 2.24 cents, down 1.2 percent over the last 24 hours.

Image: 149561324@N03/Flickr

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