Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)
On January 27, stablecoin giant Tether officially announced that its new USD stablecoin, USAT, designed specifically for the US market and tailored to the GENIUS regulatory framework, has officially launched.
The promotion of USAT has been in the works for a long time. As early as when the GENIUS bill was being pushed through last year, Tether had already decided to launch a new USD stablecoin alongside USDT to compete directly with other stablecoins in the US market under a compliant system. Subsequently, Tether disclosed the development progress and design details of USAT several times. It was previously rumored to launch before the end of 2025 but was officially released in January this year.
USAT: A More Compliant USDT
With the official launch of USAT, the veil has been completely lifted on this new stablecoin.
According to Tether's official statement, USAT is tailor-made for the US market, and its design will fully comply with the new federal stablecoin regulatory framework established by the GENIUS bill (you can simply think of it as a compliant version of USDT). Specifically, Tether will issue USAT through the US federal chartered bank Anchorage Digital Bank, with Cantor Fitzgerald designated as the custodian of USAT's reserve funds and the preferred primary dealer. Bo Hines, former executive director of the White House Cryptocurrency Committee, will serve as CEO to directly oversee USAT's operations.
At the initial stage, USAT will only be issued on the Ethereum mainnet, with an initial issuance size of $20 million. The official contract address is 0x07041776f5007aca2a54844f50503a18a72a8b68.
In terms of distribution, Bybit, Crypto.com, Kraken, OKX, and Moonpay will become the first platforms to support USAT, with each platform having successively announced the launch of USAT. It is worth noting that Binance and Coinbase are not among the first batch of platforms. The former is currently flirting with World Liberty Financial (USD1), while the latter has long had interests tied to Circle (USDC). Choosing not to support USAT for now may involve certain strategic considerations.
Tether's Future: Dual-Track Parallel Development
The launch of USAT does not mean that USDT's position will be replaced.
In fact, Tether has repeatedly stated its stance on USDT and USAT, emphasizing that it will adopt a development model of two stablecoins operating in parallel in the future —— USAT will focus on the US market, competing directly with rivals like USDC within the compliant system to capture institutional clients in the traditional financial market; USDT will focus on offshore markets, continuing to serve as the liquidity cornerstone of the cryptocurrency market.
In yesterday's announcement about the issuance of USAT, Tether also mentioned USDT's gradual compliance strategy again: "USDT will continue to operate globally and lead the market as the most widely adopted stablecoin, while gradually moving towards compliance with the GENIUS bill."
In the short term, USDT will still be Tether's main business focus. It will be difficult for USAT to replace the former in terms of scale, but it is expected that Tether will allocate certain resources to USAT to boost the early growth of this stablecoin.
From First Mover to Latecomer, How Will Tether Break Through This Time?
After USAT enters the market, the competitive landscape of the stablecoin market in the US is destined to heat up again.
Considering the current development trends, Circle's (USDC) temporary leading position is not secure. The king of the global stablecoin market, Tether (USAT), World Liberty Financial (USD1) backed by the Trump family, internet giant representative Paypal (PYUSD), BlackRock-backed USDtb... various competitors are launching fierce attacks.
A typical case is that since Binance and USD1 launched a joint subsidy activity (including the ended current account financial management and the ongoing airdrop subsidies) on December 24 last year, USD1's supply scale has grown by more than $2 billion, while USDC's supply scale has shrunk by over $5 billion during the same period —— there is likely some correlation in this ebb and flow.
A similar case could also happen with USAT. As a latecomer stablecoin, if Tether wants to stimulate the growth of its supply, subsidies would obviously be the most efficient measure. As ordinary users, we naturally hope to see major stablecoins engage in incentive wars.
Tether's financial strength is undeniable. In 2025, Tether achieved profits of tens of billions of dollars in just three quarters. However, the problem here is that Tether has long been opposed to profit subsidies. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino clearly expressed his disdain last year for the industry's pursuit of interest-bearing stablecoins, bluntly stating it was a "bad idea." Therefore, it remains unknown whether Tether will adopt a growth strategy similar to USD1 for USAT in the future.
This is an unresolved question for Tether —— in the development history of stablecoins, Tether used USDT to fully exploit first-mover advantages. This time, as a latecomer chasing the competition, Tether's strategy to break through is worth anticipating.
