OMG Network Partners With Bitfinex To Add Tether (USDT) Stablecoin On The Plasma Sidechain

OMG network becomes the first sidechain ever to add USDT capability aiming to improve the scalability and reduce costs of transaction on the platform. In the official announcement released on June 1, 2020, OMG Network announced a partnership with Tether’s sister company, Bitfinex Inc., to successfully integrate of the stablecoin on OMG’s Plasma sidechain.

Tether (#USDT) will be available soon on @omgnetworkhq OMG/Plasma! https://t.co/tQtFkMBQdK

— Tether (@Tether_to) June 1, 2020

Tether (USDT) becomes the latest token to join the OMG Network’s, once called OmiseGo, Plasma sidechain. The partnership between OMG Network and Bitfinex, adding the stablecoin, aims at “reducing the confirmation times, making payments faster, and lowering the transaction costs” on the Ethereum network. The upgrades will not affect the security of the platform – statement says it will operate at “the same level of security as Ethereum”. CEO at OMG Network, Vansa Chatikavanij.

“Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of the OMG Network that supports thousands of transactions per second and reduces transaction costs to a third of Ethereum.”

OMG Plasma sidechain to solve scalability issues

Ethereum has seen increased gas prices over the past few weeks as reported by BEG as the network’s usage reached an all-time high in anticipation of the Ethereum 2.0 launch. ETH currently offers a capped number of transactions per second at 7-15 TPS causing lags when there is high traffic on the network. USDT is currently approaching 50% of the total transactions on Ethereum and Bitfinex is looking to let off some pressure to an Ethereum sidechain.

Addition of USDT will solve most of the issues with Ethereum – improving scalability and reducing volatility on the platform.

Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Bitfinex, supported Vansa’s statements saying the reduction of fees and scalable platform “allows traders to react faster to trading opportunities.” He further says,

“By migrating USDt value transfers to the OMG Network, we save costs, drive performance improvements, and relieve pressure on the root chain. This is good for Bitfinex, our users, and the entire Ethereum ecosystem.”

OMG Network mainnet test launches

OMG Network, a platform based on the Ethereum network also announced the launch of its mainnet test on June 1. The new blockchain iteration of its Minimal Viable Plasma design will introduce a “Tesuji Plasma architecture” and employ a “proof-of-authority” (PoA) consensus mechanism.