Tether USAT landed on Celo and became its second main network

Tether's USAT stablecoin, which focuses on the U.S. market, is launched on the Celo network

This is USAT's second main-network deployment after Ethereum, expanding the token to a network widely used for digital dollar payments.

Core Points

USAT now supports native casting and destruction on Celo, no longer relying solely on bridging tokens. Celo users can use USAT to pay network Gas fees through the blockchain's CIP-64 fee abstraction function. Since its launch in January, USAT's market value has reached approximately US$185 million. Tether recently led a $7 million financing from Pact Labs to expand USAT into U.S. payroll payments.

USAT adds native publishing and Gas payment capabilities on Celo

Tether announced on Wednesday that USAT will be launched on Celo, months after the two companies announced the plan in March. Celo became the second main network supported by the stablecoin after Ethereum. USAT holders can use native casting and destruction features on Celo. Native issuance reduces the need for third-party bridging tokens, thereby reducing additional technical and custody risks. The token can also be used to pay online transaction fees. Celo introduced this feature with its CIP-64 upgrade, allowing approved ERC-20 tokens to be used as Gas currency, eliminating the need for users to hold separate network tokens.

Bo Hines, CEO of Tether US, said in a statement: "Expanding USAT to Celo was a thoughtful decision. USAT is designed to operate in an environment where digital dollars are already being used on a large scale, and Celo has built such an environment where hundreds of thousands of people transact on the network every day."

Celo has processed 28% of cross-chain USDT transfers.

The announcement stated that since the flagship stablecoin USDT was launched on Celo in 2024, Celo has become Tether's largest USDT distribution network based on weekly active users. The network accounts for 28% of cross-blockchain USDT transfers. At the same time, it also accounts for more than 90% of the market share of Tether Gold full-chain version XAUt0. Tether's transparency data shows that the USDT authorized for issuance on Celo is approximately US$470 million. By this measure, Celo is the eighth largest blockchain supported by the USDT. Authorized tokens include inventory available for future issuance and do not necessarily represent current circulation. Independent market estimates show that the total supply of stablecoins in circulation on Celo is close to US$136 million. Among them, USDT accounted for approximately US$78.8 million, and Tether's share of this market was 57.6%. Opera has also launched a self-managed stablecoin wallet on Celo with the support of Tether. According to reports, the product has more than 18 million users worldwide.

USAT targets U.S. regulated U.S. dollar payments market

USAT was launched in January and has grown to approximately $185 million in market value. This is still a small share compared to USDT's approximately $180 billion supply, but the two tokens serve different markets. Tether designed USAT around the requirements of the US GENIUS Act. The stablecoin holds cash or highly liquid cash equivalents, including U.S. Treasury bonds, as reserves to support one-on-one redemptions. The token is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, a federally chartered crypto bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Prior to joining Tether US, Hines served as Executive Director of the President's Digital Assets Advisory Council from January to August 2025. This regulated structure has made USAT the heart of Tether's expansion from crypto transactions to day-to-day payments in the United States.

Tether expands USAT into a $11 trillion payroll market

According to reports in mid-July, Tether, together with Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna, jointly led Pact Labs '$7 million Series A financing. The deal aims to integrate USAT into the payroll and payment systems used by U.S. employers. Pact Labs plans to allow companies to process wages through a blockchain payment track, while embedding digital wallets and related financial services. Tether is targeting a U.S. salary market with annual processing volume of more than $11 trillion. Celo's low-cost, mobile-first design and existing stablecoin ecosystem provide an alternative settlement network for these applications. The blockchain was launched as Layer 1 in 2020 and subsequently migrated to the Ethereum Layer 2 network built based on OP Stack in March 2025.