Overview
Stable's USDT-specific features aren't a menu of independent options. They compose. Each one removes a specific friction that shows up when stablecoin payments move from demos to production. This page explains why the five features exist together.
The friction stack
Most stablecoin payment architecture on general-purpose chains runs into the same stack of problems:
- Users have to hold a second token (ETH, SOL) to pay gas for a transaction that moves stablecoins. An onboarding step that bleeds conversion.
- Even with a second token, the user has to cover gas. This breaks the "send a dollar for a dollar" mental model that merchants and payment apps need.
- Transaction costs fluctuate with network activity. Payroll, treasury ops, and batch settlements can't plan cost or inclusion.
- Per-transaction limits cap throughput. High-volume USDT flows hit chain-wide contention and degrade alongside unrelated activity.
- Every transaction is publicly observable. Supplier payments, salary runs, and treasury moves leak commercially sensitive data.
How the features compose
Stable addresses each friction with a dedicated mechanism:
| Friction | Mechanism | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Separate gas token | USDT0 is the native gas token | USDT as gas |
| User pays gas at all | Governance-authorized waivers cover gas | Gas waiver |
| Cost and inclusion variance | Reserved block capacity for enrolled partners | Guaranteed blockspace |
| Throughput ceiling | Parallelized USDT0 transfer batching | USDT transfer aggregator |
| Public amount visibility | Selective privacy via ZK cryptography | Confidential transfer |
Any one of these helps. Taken together, they make Stable a chain where a payments team can model cost, latency, and privacy the same way they would on a traditional card network, with the settlement finality of a blockchain.
For the full set of Stable's differences from a general-purpose EVM chain, see Ethereum comparison. For a worked example of USDT moving end-to-end through these features, see Flow of funds.
Next recommended
- USDT as gas — Understand the asset that replaces ETH for gas and payment at once.
- Flow of funds — Trace USDT from on-ramp through on-chain transfer to off-ramp settlement.
- Bridging to Stable — See how USDT0 moves onto Stable from other chains.