Tether (USDT Optimism)

Tether: a closer look

What Tether is

Tether is the largest stablecoin: its job is to stay at the one-dollar mark. It has been issued since 2014 by Tether Limited, and the backing consists mostly of cash equivalents and short-term US Treasury bills.

Sending USDT Optimism

Everything comes down to the choice of network. TRON is picked for being cheap and fast, ERC20 is accepted practically everywhere but gas there is noticeably dearer, and Solana, TON and BEP20 are the inexpensive middle ground. The recipient address must belong to the same network you are sending on, and to pay the fee your wallet needs the native coin of that network — TRX, ETH, BNB and so on.

Tether in detail: networks, storage and risks

The Optimism network

Optimism is another layer-2 network on top of Ethereum. Addresses are in the familiar format, the fee is in ETH and amounts to a small part of the cost in the main network.

Networks USDT runs in

• USDT TRC20 — TRC20 means tokens on the TRON network. Confirmation takes seconds, and the fee is charged in TRX or covered by staked energy; it comes out cheaper than in Ethereum — which is why most USDT is sent over TRC20.
• USDT Arbitrum — Arbitrum One is a layer-2 network on top of Ethereum. The address format is the Ethereum one and the fee is in ETH, but many times cheaper than in the main network.
• USDT AVAX C — Avalanche C-Chain is the EVM-compatible chain of Avalanche, and the fee is charged in AVAX.
• USDT NEAR
• USDT ERC20 — ERC20 means tokens on the Ethereum network. The standard is accepted by almost every wallet and exchange, but gas is paid in ETH, and under heavy load its cost rises noticeably.
• USDT BEP20 — BEP20 means tokens on BNB Smart Chain, an EVM-compatible network. The address is indistinguishable by sight from an Ethereum one, the fee is charged in BNB and usually stays small.
• USDT SOL — On Solana, tokens are issued under the SPL standard. A transfer is confirmed within seconds, and the fee is measured in fractions of a cent and paid in SOL. A separate account is opened for each new token, and that takes a little SOL as well.