Tether is no longer just testing the waters. Its USAT stablecoin - a dedicated Tether digital asset designed to comply with the GENIUS Act regulatory framework for the US market - has officially launched on Celo as its second mainnet following Ethereum. The deployment, first teased in March 2026, is now fully live.
This contract deployment introduces crucial technical capabilities. USAT on Celo features native mint-and-burn functionality, eliminating reliance on third-party cross-chain bridges that are frequently targeted by exploits. Additionally, users can pay network gas fees directly in USAT, enabled by Celo’s CIP-64 system upgrade which allows ERC-20 tokens to serve as primary gas currencies.
“USAT was built for an environment where digital dollars are already utilized at scale,” said Tether US CEO Bo Hines, former executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets. The statement aligns with Celo’s architecture - a 2020 layer-1 network that transitioned into an OP Stack-based Ethereum layer-2 in March 2025.
Why Celo Was Chosen
Tether’s decision to deploy on Celo is backed by strong transaction metrics. Since USDT initially launched on Celo in 2024, the network quickly set records as the world’s largest USDT distribution hub by weekly active users. Celo alone processes 28% of all cross-chain USDT transfers and holds over a 90% market share for the Tether Gold (XAUt0) omnichain product.
This dominance is clearly reflected in its circulating supply. Out of Celo’s $136 million total stablecoin supply, USDT commands the largest share at $78.8 million, or roughly 57.6% market share. Furthermore, Tether’s backing of the Opera self-custodial crypto wallet operating on Celo has helped it amass over 18 million active users.
USAT targets a different segment than its counterpart. While USDT dominates global markets with a $180 billion market cap, USAT’s circulating supply currently stands at $185 million. To ensure compliance, the asset is backed by cash and liquid cash equivalents, including US government bonds, and is issued directly by Anchorage Digital Bank, which holds a charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
Targeting the $11 Trillion Payroll Market
Tether has a clear objective with this infrastructure expansion: capturing US corporate payroll flows. Recently, Tether injected $7 million in Series A funding into tech firm Pact Labs, with the primary mission of integrating USAT into US corporate payroll systems and recurring payment networks.
The target market processes over $11 trillion in annual cash flows. Leveraging Celo’s low-cost transaction infrastructure and USAT’s status as a domestically regulated digital asset, Tether is attempting to forge a new pipeline for worker funds. Money that traditionally landed in conventional bank accounts is now poised to flow directly into crypto balances in digital wallets starting from day one of payday.
Via crypto.news.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
