The world-leading cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchange, is adding support for stablecoin giants USDT and USDC on the high-performance smart contract blockchain Algorand (USDTa and USDCa). This continued collaboration between OKEx and Algorand will give users the opportunity to transact in their preferred USD-backed stablecoin on the Algorand blockchain — rather than on Ethereum — at a fraction of the cost and time.
Traders use so-called stablecoins to avoid price volatility. However, the cost of using any stablecoin depends on the blockchain network on which it functions. With the accelerated growth of the DeFi economy and the price of ETH reaching record highs, the Ethereum blockchain is increasingly plagued with network congestion and rising fees. The average transaction fee on Ethereum $25 on Feb. 5, making transacting with ERC-20 tokens — such as the Ethereum-based versions of USDT and USDC — expensive and prohibitive for many users.
By using USDTa and USDCa, fees $0.001/transaction — regardless of the transaction size — and settled almost immediately, in less than five seconds.
USDT and USDC on Algorand (USDTa and USDCa) will be available to OKEx traders in the next 2–3 weeks.
Algorand's native token is ALGO, has been listed on OKEx since June 21, 2019, with four trading pairs available for users — ALGO/USDT, ALGO/BTC, ALGO/ETH and ALGO/USDK. The token has displayed its popularity among OKEx traders, with high volume trading, specially ALGO/USDT.
Most crypto-to-crypto exchanges use USDT as their base trading pair asset, helping propel it to be by far the most popular stablecoin, with a market cap of over $30 billion, making it the third largest cryptocurrency in existence.
OKEx CEO Jay Hao commented on the expanded partnership:
"With such high demand for USDT and USDC on the OKEx platform, we are delighted to offer users the chance to transact quickly and cheaply by providing a safe alternative to Ethereum while a solution is found for its rising gas fees and network congestion. User experience on OKEx is our number-one priority and this collaboration is another way of demonstrating that commitment. Algorand is a technically sound protocol that provides the scalability essential to furthering crypto adoption that Ethereum doesn't currently have."
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