Coinbase Canada to suspend USDT trading later this month

Tether ends support for Omni, its original blockchain

article-image

dRender/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Coinbase sent Canadian users an email on Thursday and announced it would suspend their ability to trade for the stablecoin Tether at the end of August.

“We regularly monitor the assets on our exchange to ensure they meet our listing standards. Based on our most recent reviews, Coinbase will suspend trading in Canada for RAI Reflex Index (RAI), Dai (DAI), and Tether on Aug. 31 around 12 pm ET,” a Coinbase spokesperson told Blockworks via email.

“The trading suspension will not affect customers’ access to RAI, DAI or USDT wallets which will remain available for deposit and withdrawal functionality after the trading suspension,” the firm continued.

Earlier this week, Coinbase announced that it was “accelerating” its international expansion with a Canadian launch

“Canada is well positioned to be a global leader in the cryptoeconomy thanks to the high levels of crypto awareness, a passionate local tech ecosystem, and the progress towards a strong regulatory framework,” Coinbase’s Nana Murugesan said in a statement. 

The operator behind the stablecoin USDT also announced some changes on Thursday. 

Tether (USDT) detailed a “strategic transition” and is discontinuing support for “Kusama, Bitcoin Cash SLP and Omni Layer implementations.” Omni stands out, as it was the first layer Tether used when it was known as Realcoin in 2014.

“However, over the years, the Omni Layer faced challenges due to the lack of popular tokens and the availability of USD₮ on other blockchains,” Tether said in a post.

Starting Aug. 17, USDT-Omni, USDT-Kusama and USDT-BCHLSP will stop minting. However, all three will be redeemable “as normal” for the next 12 months.

Bitfinex and other platforms will still allow the pairs swap for other chains.

“While this shift signifies a transition, the focus will now be on directing resources toward the development of RGB, which is a client-side validated state and smart contracts system that operates on layer-2 and 3 of the Bitcoin ecosystem,” the post said.

Tether reported around $73 billion in exposure to US Treasury bills in its second quarter attestation, with excess revenues of $3.3 billion as of June 30.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

recent research

Blinks Report Image.png

Research

Blinks enable the ability to vampire attack user monetization of existing networks by inserting onchain and financialized functionalities directly within the popular social feeds and digital experiences of today.

article-image

Kalshi founder Tarek Mansour said Thursday marked the “the first trade on regulated election markets in nearly a century”

article-image

I was excited about being on the precipice of realigning societal incentives and solving many issues plaguing our modern financial world

article-image

Cypherpunk Holdings has rebranded to Sol Strategies in a pivot to a Solana-first investment approach

article-image

BitGo’s wrapped bitcoin (wBTC) has a new custodial challenger

article-image

Make no mistake: Tether makes a ton of money. But exactly how much depends a lot on the price of bitcoin.

article-image

A new report on stablecoin activity in emerging markets shows their immense popularity in Nigeria