Tether, the contentious “stablecoin” that powers more than $60 billion of the cryptocurrency market, is introducing a British version to capitalize on the UK government’s ambition to establish Britain as a major cryptocurrency center.
The digital asset will be developed on the Ethereum blockchain, just as its US dollar version, of which $67 billion (£55 billion) is regularly traded on cryptocurrency exchanges, but its value will be fixed at £1.
The release of the GBPT token coincides with a bad period for cryptocurrencies. The overall market has shrunk from about $3 trillion worth of trade tokens to less than $1 trillion, and the leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has dropped from a high of $69,000 to far less than $20,000 overall.
Tether’s New GBPT Coin Linked To British Pound
The USDT the largest token in the Tether ecosystem has lost more than $8 billion in just over a week as investors rush to convert their holdings into safer assets, and the overall value in circulation has decreased by around $20 billion from its high.
Tether claims that despite the drops, its company has never been more robust and cites the quickness with which the billions were taken as proof of its solid roots.
According to the business, the stability of Tether is achieved by backing each unit one-to-one with assets kept in reserve. It differs from the assertion it made when it first began operating, which was that each coin was backed by US dollars kept in reserve. That allegation was found to be a “lie” following an inquiry by the New York attorney general’s office, and Tether was prohibited from doing business in New York and fined $18 million.
The UK government, which claims to still support the industry despite the crypto market fall, specifically mentioned stablecoins as requiring regulatory assistance.
