Binance is Switching from Omni to ERC20 USDT Address

July 4, 2019 – Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announces that it will now support ERC-20-based USDT wallet addresses, switching from the old Omni-based addresses that its customers have been using.

There are 2 implementations* of USDT (Tether), one is Omni-based and the other is ERC-20 based. USDT (Omni) is issued by Tether on the BTC network. Its protocol is the Omni layer protocol built on the BTC blockchain. USDT (ERC-20) is based on the ETH network.

Now, Binance is saying that ERC-20-based USDT will be the standard in its exchange. While Omni-based USDT can still be deposited to the old addresses, users cannot withdraw them anymore.

The reason for this change according to Binance is that the ERC-20-based USDT is faster when it comes to withdrawals and deposits and also cheaper. Other exchanges such as Poloniex and Huobi also announced their support for the ethereum-based USDT, claiming that withdrawal and deposit processes are faster.

There will be downtime in Binance at 8:00 am UTC (12:00 pm PHT) to facilitate the change.

*There is also a Tron-based USDT.

This article is first published on BitPinas: Binance is Switching from Omni to ERC20 USDT Address