Key Takeaways:
Tether's GENIUS Act-compliant USAT stablecoin launched on Celo on Wednesday, marking the token's first expansion beyond Ethereum and giving users the ability to pay transaction fees directly with the stablecoin.
"Expanding USAT to Celo was a deliberate decision," Bo Hines, chief executive officer of Tether US, said in a statement. "USAT is designed to operate in environments where digital dollars are already being used at scale, and that is what Celo has built, with hundreds of thousands of people transacting on the network every day."
USAT, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank — the first federally chartered crypto-native bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — debuted in January with a $185 million market capitalization as of Wednesday, according to The Block's data. That compares with Tether's flagship USDT token, which commands roughly $180 billion in market cap across multiple blockchains.
Celo's CIP-64 upgrade enables ERC-20 tokens to serve as gas currencies, meaning USAT holders can pay network fees without holding Celo's native CELO token. The mobile-optimized blockchain, which completed its transition to an Ethereum Layer 2 built on the OP Stack in March 2025, already hosts approximately $470 million in authorized USDT supply, per Tether's transparency data, though DefiLlama pegs Celo's total stablecoin circulating supply closer to $136 million, with USDT dominance at 57.6%.
Celo has emerged as Tether's largest distribution network by weekly active users since USDT deployed on the chain in 2024, accounting for 28% of cross-blockchain USDT transfers. The network also maintains over 90% market share of XAUt0, the omnichain version of Tether Gold. Internet browser Opera launched a self-custodial stablecoin wallet on Celo with backing from Tether that has onboarded more than 18 million users globally, according to the announcement.
The GENIUS Act, signed into U.S. law in 2025, requires stablecoin issuers to maintain 1-1 reserves in cash or high-quality cash equivalents such as Treasurys. USAT's compliance with the statute positions it as a regulated alternative in a market where most stablecoins operate outside U.S. federal oversight. Hines, who served as executive director of the President's Council of Advisers on Digital Assets from January to August 2025, has led Tether's push into the U.S. regulatory framework.
The expansion to Celo signals Tether's multi-chain strategy for USAT is accelerating, potentially intensifying competition among Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks to host the compliant stablecoin. With Celo's mobile-first design and fee abstraction, the deployment targets emerging-market users who rely on stablecoins for payments and remittances — a demographic that has driven much of Celo's transaction volume. The firms had announced plans for the Celo launch in March, ahead of Wednesday's deployment.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
