With ‘The Merge‘, the Ethereum network intends to explore the proof-of-stake [PoS] mechanism. However, leaving behind proof-of-work [PoW] seemed to be more challenging than expected. Nevertheless, prominent networks have been pouring in support for the Merge that is expected to occur in September. The largest stablecoin issuer Tether was the latest to shower support towards the upcoming upgrade.
Recently, Tether [USDT] penned down a blog post titled “USD₮ Supports ETH Proof-of-Stake Transition.” The network suggested that it did not intend on causing any confusion or harm to the ecosystem. Therefore, the network would work in agreement with the imminent Ethereum upgrade.
The blog post read,
“Tether believes that in order to avoid any disruption to the community, especially when using our tokens in DeFi projects and platforms, it’s important that the transition to POS is not weaponized to cause confusion and harm within the ecosystem.”
In addition to this, Tether pointed out how the smooth transition was mandatory in upholding the “long-term health of the DeFi ecosystem and its platforms.”
Furthermore, it should be noted that this announcement was made following Circle Pay revealing its support for the Merge. Circle Pay is touted to be Tether’s rival as the former is the issuer of USD Coin [USDC]. Both USDT and USDC entail a prominent hold over the Ethereum network.
USDT to stay on the sidelines while USDD takes over Ethereum’s PoW chain?
As mentioned earlier, Ethereum’s shift to PoS has created a significant divide. Led by Chandler Guo, a prominent miner, a hard fork is in the making. The fate of the hard fork, however, is unclear. Nevertheless, several exchanges like Poloniex, BitMex, and others have already extended support. Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron Foundation seemed to be increasingly bullish about the hard fork.
While his exchange had already displayed an inclination toward Ethereum PoW, Sun affirmed that his stablecoin USDD would follow suit. Speaking about USDD, he recently stated,
“I think decentralized stablecoins, like [Tron stablecoin] USDD, [a] decentralized U.S. dollar, is still essential to our industry because, as we all know, all the components of [decentralized finance] today it’s all decentralized … except stablecoins.”
Tether, in its latest blog post, stayed mum about the potential hard fork. Therefore, many speculated that Tether could be taking a step back as USDD would be employed in the ETHW chain.