On August 27, 2025, Polygon announced that Tether USD (USDT) tokens on Polygon have been upgraded to a native deployment called USDT0. This means instead of being bridged via Polygon’s “child asset” / side-bridge system, USDT now exists natively on Polygon. Polygon
The upgrade is designed to bring lower fees, deeper liquidity and easier bridging to other chains. Polygon
More broadly, the upgrade is part of Polygon’s push to become a strong payments-/stablecoin-friendly infrastructure and support real-world asset / large scale payments. Polygon+1
🔍 Why It Matters
Stablecoins like USDT play a critical role in crypto ecosystems (trading pairs, liquidity, payments). Having USDT native on Polygon means the network is better optimized for stablecoin use (less bridging overhead, potentially less risk, and cheaper/more efficient transfers) — assuming everything functions as intended.
For users & projects on Polygon: this may reduce friction for stablecoin usage (payments, DeFi, transfers) and strengthen the liquidity base.
For Polygon as a platform: It bolsters their credentials as a “real-money” / payments friendly chain (which also ties into their ZK/Layer2 scaling narrative). For example, Polygon has been attracting institutional partnerships and DeFi growth. AInvest+1
For broader crypto infrastructure: Native stablecoins across chains (rather than bridged ones) may reduce risks associated with bridging (e.g., smart contract risk, liquidity fragmentation) and improve composability across ecosystems.
⚠️ Things to Watch / Potential Risks
“Native” deployment doesn’t eliminate all risk: smart contract bugs, network issues, regulatory changes around stablecoins may still apply.
Liquidity migration: when a token is upgraded (from a bridged version to a native one) there’s sometimes a transition period; liquidity and usage might shift or temporarily be fragmented.
Stablecoin regulatory and monetary-policy risks: USDT is a major stablecoin, and regulatory scrutiny of stablecoins (issuance, audits, backing) remains a theme globally. While the news is positive for usability, the stablecoin space as a whole has macro/regulatory risk.
For users: check that you’re interacting with the correct token contract/address post-upgrade; ensure your wallet/exchanges have accounted for the upgrade so you don’t accidentally use the older version or lose funds.
📌 Quick Summary
Token: USDT on Polygon (and now its native version USDT0 on Polygon)
