Polkadot launches a dollar stablecoin with no company behind it. For now, you mint it by depositing Tether's USDT

Polkadot has switched on its own dollar stablecoin, and the pitch is that nobody owns it. The network announced on Thursday that dotUSD is live, with no issuing company and no single point of control. Holders of DOT, Polkadot's token, govern it through OpenGov, the network's on-chain voting system.

The launch post took aim at the handful of companies that issue most of the world's stablecoins, a market it put at more than $250 billion. "Like banks, they decide who can hold them and who can't," it said.

The first version leans on one of those companies all the same. For now, users create dotUSD one-for-one by depositing USDT, Tether's stablecoin, into a mechanism called a peg stability module, and can redeem each dotUSD for $1 of USDT. Supply is capped, and there are no price oracles or liquidations yet, The Crypto Times and CoinGape reported.

A second phase is meant to change that. Users would lock DOT as collateral to mint dotUSD, with oracles, liquidations and a stability pool added, in a design that draws on Liquity's BOLD stablecoin. Borrowers would choose their own interest rates. CoinGape reported that no timeline has been given.

DOT holders approved the plan in Referendum 1944, which passed with 98.4% support and about 4.3 million DOT behind it. The stablecoin runs on Polkadot Hub.