Executive Summary

South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges Bithumb and Upbit have initiated support for native Tether (USDT) deposits and withdrawals on the Aptos network, marking a significant expansion for Aptos in the Asian stablecoin market and reinforcing its position as a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain.

The Event in Detail

Bithumb announced support for native USDT on the Aptos network, enabling deposits and withdrawals from September 22, 2025, at 15:00 KST. This follows Upbit's earlier decision to support Aptos-based USDT deposits and withdrawals, effective from June 18, 2025, at 02:00 KST. With these integrations, Aptos becomes the only blockchain network, aside from Ethereum and TRON, to receive simultaneous native USDT support from both of South Korea's dominant cryptocurrency exchanges.

Upbit's implementation sets a minimum deposit of 3 USDT and a minimum withdrawal of 0.000001 USDT, with a fixed withdrawal fee of 0.1 USDT for Aptos-based transfers. These parameters are designed to facilitate cost-effective transactions while maintaining platform security. The dual support underscores Aptos's growing adoption as a core infrastructure for global stablecoin circulation, particularly within the influential Korean digital asset market.

Market Implications

This dual integration is anticipated to significantly increase Aptos's trading volume and liquidity for USDT, potentially boosting its ecosystem activity. The move solidifies Aptos's standing as a leading Layer 1 for stablecoin circulation and digital asset innovation in key markets. Aptos has already demonstrated substantial growth in its stablecoin ecosystem, with native USDT activities surpassing $30 billion in volume and approximately $830 million in net circulation, positioning it as the fourth-largest Layer 1 blockchain by native USDT volume. The network's overall stablecoin market cap reached $1.2 billion in H1 2025, an 85.9% increase, driven by native deployments of USDT, USDC, and USDe.

Aptos's technical capabilities support these expansions, with reported transaction processing speeds of 20,000 transactions per second (TPS) via its Zaptos parallel architecture and a potential for 1 million TPS with future Shardines sharding. Average gas fees are notably low, recorded at approximately $0.00052 per transaction, making it one of the most cost-efficient Layer 1 solutions. Monthly active user addresses for native USDT transactions reached 1.1 million, contributing to Aptos ranking as the second-highest blockchain by on-chain activity. The network has processed over 172 million transactions in a 30-day period, indicating robust user engagement.

Expert Commentary

Industry analysis highlights Aptos's strategic focus on performance and developer accessibility. The Move programming language, unique to Aptos, has enabled significant improvements in transaction efficiency and security. Upgrades like Baby Raptr (June 2025) reduced validator finality latency by 20% to 100-150ms, enhancing transaction settlement speed. The Zaptos upgrade (January 2025) introduced a parallel, pipelined architecture, achieving 20,000 TPS with sub-second latency across 100 validators in geo-distributed tests. These advancements position Aptos as a global infrastructure suitable for real-time payments, decentralized finance (DeFi), and institutional applications.

Strategic partnerships further underscore Aptos's market positioning. The Aptos Foundation collaborated with South Korea's SK Telecom to integrate USDT into its T wallet, providing over 30 million users with access to the stablecoin. This initiative marked the first use of the Move programming language to host USDT, simplifying digital currency adoption through familiar Web2 login features. Additionally, a partnership with PayPal to integrate the PYUSD stablecoin on Aptos aims to expand the utility of dollar-pegged stablecoins for programmable, cross-chain payments, utilizing Aptos's capacity for over 150,000 TPS and its zero-fee model for PYUSD0.

Broader Context

The growing integration of Aptos with major exchanges and traditional financial entities signals a broader trend where high-performance blockchain infrastructure is becoming integral to real-world financial systems. This aligns with a rising institutional interest in blockchain, as evidenced by Franklin Templeton, Ondo Finance, and Libre integrating financial products on the Aptos platform. The Aptos Foundation's commitment of $200 million to ecosystem growth in H1 2025, funding DeFi grants and liquidity initiatives, further supports its aim to establish the network as a foundational element for digital finance. The launch of Aave V3 on Aptos, its first deployment outside an EVM chain, marks a significant milestone in positioning Aptos as a high-performance hub for next-generation finance. This continued expansion and strategic partnerships reflect a concerted effort to capture significant value in the transition towards blockchain-powered global finance.