According to Cointelegraph, Tether has expanded its crosschain US-dollar stablecoin, USDT0, to Optimism's Superchain, enhancing access to the widely used stable asset within Ethereum's layer-2 ecosystem. On March 27, Optimism announced the deployment of the dollar-pegged USDT0 on the OP mainnet. Initially launched on Ink, Kraken's DeFi-focused layer-2, USDT0 is a bridged version of Tether's USDt (USDT) aimed at increasing stablecoin adoption across multiple blockchains. Tether introduced USDT0 in January in partnership with the interoperability protocol LayerZero, and subsequently selected Arbitrum as the primary infrastructure provider.
Superchain, a network of layer-2 chains, is designed to scale Ethereum using Optimism's OP Stack. Currently, it accounts for 52% of Ethereum layer-2 transactions, as per data from Superchain. Since September, Superchain's dominance in the L2 space has grown from 36.6% to 51.9% of all transactions. In February, Optimism's chief growth officer, Ryan Wyatt, indicated that Superchain could represent 80% of Ethereum L2 transactions by the end of the year. At that time, Superchain had secured over $4 billion in total value, a figure that has since increased to $4.2 billion.
The deployment of USDT0 is anticipated to attract more top-tier assets, applications, and partners to Superchain, underscoring the significant role stablecoins play in driving DeFi adoption. The total value of all stablecoins in circulation has reached nearly $228 billion, marking a 3.3% increase over the past month. According to RWA.xyz, there are over 155 million stablecoin holders globally, with Ethereum accounting for 58% of the total stablecoin supply. In terms of market capitalization, Ethereum remains the largest network for stablecoins, with Tether's USDt being the most widely used stable asset.
Tether has maintained a first-mover advantage in the stablecoin market and has become one of the largest holders of US Treasury assets, contributing to its substantial profits in recent years. With U.S. President Donald Trump in office, dollar-pegged stablecoins have emerged as a significant policy focus in the United States. Bo Hines, head of Trump's council on digital assets, recently stated at a New York conference that comprehensive stablecoin regulations could be presented to the president within two months.