Cryptocurrencies have been under rampage lately. We’ve seen huge and rapid surges in price that we once thought were impossible. Last week we saw Bitcoin make a recovery of over 80% in a week, after losing 50% in the previous week. The same thing applies to other cryptocurrencies. This volatility may be good for trading but at these rates, cryptocurrencies cannot be used as a medium of payment. In fact, high volatility is one of the reasons why cryptocurrencies have not been able to achieve mass adoption.
Stablecoins, like Tether(USDT) are the solutions to the volatility problem in cryptocurrencies. They have all the beneficial properties of cryptocurrencies such as decentralization, high security, transparency and immutability. In addition to these, they can be used as a means of payment or for day to day transactions because they are (relatively) stable.
In reality, no currency is stable, not even the US dollar, Euro or Naira. They all fluctuate but the fluctuation or volatility is so low that you don’t even notice it and it doesn’t usually affect commercial activities.
Tether is the first stablecoin. The term Tether can be used interchangeably with USDT but they are not the same. Tether is a broader term that refers to stablecoins issued by Tether Limited. USDT is a type of Tether which is backed by the US Dollar. There are different types of Tether but they all have the same property of being tied to fiat currencies or commodities. Some of the popular Tethers are listed below:
1. USD Tether/USDT is a stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar.
2. Tether Euros (EURT) is a stablecoin that is pegged to the euro.
3. Tether Gold/ XAUt is a digital asset that represents one troy fine ounce of gold.
Forms of USDT
USDT exists in various forms. It exists in the Bitcoin network Omni Protocol. It exists as ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum network. In Tron, the TRC20-based USDT provides a stable coin for the network and TRON-based dApps and USDT-EOS does the same for the EOS Network and DApps. USDT also exists in the BOS blockchain.
The EOS blockchain has a better infrastructure for dApps and it’s more suitable for peer-to-peer transactions compared to other blockchains.
Advantages of USDT on EOS
1. Speed
In older blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchain, it takes 10 minutes and 15 seconds respectively for a transaction to be confirmed. That time lag makes USDT on those blockchains to be unsuitable for use as a medium of exchange and for day to day retail point-of-sale transactions. The EOS blockchain is notable for having the fastest confirmation time of 0.5 Seconds. USDT on the EOS blockchain enjoys that speed. On EOS, USDT can be used as a medium of exchange conveniently.
2. Convenience
Unlike other blockchains, EOS has human-readable account names instead of cryptographic hashes, for example, my EOS account name is “tojukaka1234", you can easily memorise that and send me USDT whenever you want.
My Ethereum address, however, is “0xC2a41fF277d59fAF79F898794585a8B2c9BDB35F”.
I dare you to memorize that. USDT on EOS provides a more pleasurable user experience.
3. Transactions are (almost) free
Transactions on the EOS blockchain are so cheap that they can be qualified as free and if you got a lot of EOS staked for CPU, the transactions are entirely free. By using the TokenPocket forget CPU mode, you can spend a tiny fee of 0.1 EOS or 200 TPT(TokenPocket Tokens) to get 200 transactions. Compared to other blockchains, this is an advantage for EOS, however, only TokenPocket users enjoy the Forget CPU mode. Read more about Forget CPU Mode.
4. Free Deposit and Withdrawals when using TPExchange
TPExchange is a centralized exchange accessible with the TokenPocket app(one of the most popular wallets in EOSIO). It’s highly secure, easy to use and has low trading fees ($0.0095). TPExchange users can freely deposit and withdraw from the exchange by using EOS-USDT.
If you’re not yet on TPExchange? Click on this link to register! You earn $10 for registering and $1 for every person you invite. You also get a 30% commission on the trading fees of your invitees.
This is part 8 of a series where I take a deep dive into the TPExchange. Click on the following links to read the other parts.
“Part One: “Why you should create an account on TPEXchange”
Part Two: “How to create an account on TPEXchange”
Part Three: “TokenPocket Wallet VS TPExchange”
Part Four: “How to Deposit Cryptocurrency to TPExchange”
Part Five: “How to Trade on TPExchange”
Part Six: “A weird post about $10”
Part Seven: “Arbitrage on TokenPocket Wallet and TPExchange”
Part Eight: “Free Deposits and Withdrawals on TPExchange”
