3 Reasons To Get Paid in USDT But…

It was Friday night and I was low on cash.

A client reached out.

“Mohamed, I have a fast task for you that pays 100 dollars and you’re the fastest freelancer I know who doesn’t compromise quality for speed, interested?”

“Sure” I said. However, I was unsure about how to get that money into my pocket considering the weekend is about to start and bankers will be off to the beaches.

“How about I pay you in USDT? It’s instant, secure and with almost no fees!” My client said. Up until then, I’d only heard about USDT but I didn’t really dwell on the stablecoins hype.

I decided to do my research and here’s what I found!

What are Stablecoins?

Stablecoins are crypto tokens which are built on a blockchain with the security features and speed of crypto while maintaining price stability and trust of the fiat system. They are pegged to a fiat currency which more often than not is the US dollar.

When you were young and learning how to ride a bike, there were two options mostly:

• Either you cycle all the way to the end of the street and make it! Yaaay.
• You fall and break a leg (Happened to almost every one of us)

There was no in-between option really. It’s the same with crypto; because this asset class is so young, it still hasn’t matured yet. This means that its price is “speculative” which is the mean reason why prices are volatile all the time. They are either crazy high or crashing with blood on the street!

This means that YOU DON’T WANNA GET PAID IN BTC when its price has fallen by more than 80%

That’s where stablecoins come in. They offer…. You guessed! Stability!

Stablecoins however can either be:

• Collateralized which means there is something backing them up; be it cash, precious metal, crypto or other assets.
• Algorithmic. These are the nerdy geeky stablecoins that rely on smart contracts to control their supply and maintain the peg.

Now that we know what stablecoins are, what is USDT?

USDT is a utility token (it offers price stability and can be used to buy other tokens) on the Ethereum blockchain that is built by Tether limited.

According to Tether, they have this bank account where they have real cash. When you give them 1 USD, they mint 1 USDT for you and take your 1 USD to keep in the bank.

When you decide to take your 1 USD back again, Tether burns the 1 USDT token you give them and returns your 1 USD. This way they maintain the peg to the dollar.

Sounds convenient? Riiiiight.

The only problem is that rumors have it that Tether doesn’t really hold 1 USD for every minted USDT.

• They control the minting mechanism and until now, no authentic audits took place; the company is shrouded in mystery.
• Lately, Tether has been preparing for a full audit to solve its transparency issues. If this audit succeeds, it will be an important milestone for all crypto.
• Tether’s market cap is almost 66 Billion USD, if it falls, it could drag the ENTIRE crypto market with it. If the audit is successful it will be bullish news for the crypto market entire!

USDT offers:

Security

When it comes to security, nothing beats crypto. The word is derived from cryptography which is the art of writing and solving codes. As an Ethereum ERC-20 token, USDT is as safe as they get.

Low fees

USDT is really cheap to transfer especially if you use the BEP-20 chain. It would cost you cents to move hundreds or thousands of USDT around. Other chains aren’t that expensive. Unless you’re using ERC-20 you will pay less than $1 for your transactions.

Here is a list of networks and how much they would cost on Binance

Fast transactions

USDT will be transferred be it weekend or work day. Crypto doesn’t sleep! In a matter of minutes, your transaction will reach you no matter where you are.

So, Is Tether’s USDT a safe option to get paid in?

In theory, yes. Especially, if the full audit checks out.

However, I’d be a bit worried until that audit wraps out.

Till then, if you want to get paid in USDT you should be aware of the risks revolving around Tether’s non-transparent nature.

I’d diversify my portfolio and spread any USDTs I receive over a variety of various stablecoins just in case…

If you want to know how to stake USDT on Binance check out this article here

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