Anchorage Digital, the federally chartered bank behind some of the most closely watched regulated stablecoins, has picked its cross-chain rail — and it is LayerZero.
In a September 21 announcement, Anchorage Digital said it selected LayerZero as its preferred interoperability partner for bank-issued stablecoins, with Tether’s US-regulated token USAT confirmed as the first asset to launch using LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token standard. The deal covers Anchorage’s issuance platform, which currently supports tokens linked to Tether, Western Union, OSL Group and Falcon Finance.
What the partnership actually does
Under the arrangement, LayerZero serves as what the companies call the “preferred interoperability layer” for eligible stablecoins issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. The bank stays responsible for regulated issuance, while LayerZero supplies the messaging and token infrastructure connecting supported blockchain deployments — spanning Ethereum, EVM-compatible networks and Solana as the collaboration develops.
The OFT standard lets issuers maintain a unified token supply while extending an asset to multiple blockchains, instead of relying on separate bridge liquidity pools. Issuers keep control of their token contracts and decide which chains to support, along with the security configuration for cross-chain messages. LayerZero says its infrastructure now reaches more than 170 blockchains, and separately reported this month that the OFT standard has processed a lifetime 280 billion USD in transfers and handled 87% of cross-chain transfer volume — both self-reported network statistics.
Access to 170-plus networks does not mean every Anchorage stablecoin will instantly trade everywhere. OFT issuers choose individual deployments and configure pathways between networks, and no deployment schedule has been published for each token.
USAT goes first
Tether’s USAT is the first stablecoin in Anchorage’s portfolio confirmed to launch with LayerZero interoperability. Tether introduced the US-regulated dollar token in January, with Anchorage Digital Bank as issuer under the federal stablecoin framework — Tether itself is not the legal issuer of USAT. The token began on Ethereum before expanding to Celo, where it became available as a native asset during the summer.
Anchorage publishes monthly reserve attestations for USAT. Its first January report recorded 17.5 million redeemable tokens outstanding and 17.6 million USD of supporting reserve assets.
LayerZero’s relationship with Tether infrastructure already runs deep: Tether announced a strategic investment in LayerZero Labs in February, and the OFT system already powers USDT0, the omnichain version of USDT that launched on Stellar earlier this year using a unified supply model.
USDPT, USDGO and fUSD wait in the wings
Western Union’s USDPT sits among the other stablecoins named in the announcement. The payment giant launched USDPT on Solana in May as a dollar-backed settlement token issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, followed by a Bybit integration in June and a USDPT-backed Stablecard product in August.
OSL Group’s USDGO launched on Solana with an initial 50 million USD mint in February. OSL reported circulation above 500 million USD in June, and a more recent Anchorage update puts the token past 1 billion USD in market capitalization after roughly six months, with reserves backed 1:1 by high-quality liquid assets under monthly independent attestations.
Falcon Finance’s fUSD, built for institutional treasury, settlement and collateral use, rounds out the group. It launched with Anchorage in May, with contracts on Ethereum and BNB Chain and a reserve model of cash, short-dated US Treasuries and qualifying money-market exposure. LayerZero has not announced activation dates for USDPT, USDGO or fUSD OFT routes.
A bank with a complicated regulatory past
Anchorage Digital Bank received its national trust bank charter in January 2021, when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved its conversion from a South Dakota trust company. The OCC issued a BSA/AML consent order against the bank in April 2022 after finding compliance program deficiencies, then terminated that order on August 18, 2025. Federal records show the OCC subsequently terminated Anchorage’s original 2021 operating agreement in February 2026. The bank remains on the OCC’s list of nationally chartered trust banks.
LayerZero’s institutional stablecoin footprint extends beyond Anchorage: earlier this month, BDACS chose the OFT system for KRW1, South Korea’s won-backed token, expanding across networks including Ethereum, Avalanche and Circle’s Arc.
Why it matters
The deal effectively makes LayerZero the default bridge for a growing family of US-regulated stablecoins issued through a nationally chartered bank. If the remaining Anchorage tokens follow USAT onto the OFT standard, a single interoperability layer would connect Western Union settlement flows, OSL’s institutional distribution and Tether’s US-market product to dozens of chains at once.
For now, the immediate effect is on USAT: one federally issued dollar token, one unified supply, and a path to more than 170 networks. Market context from the batch price snapshot: Bitcoin trades near 85,958 USD, up about 5.9% in 24 hours, Ethereum near 2,751 USD and Solana near 117 USD.
280B lifetime OFT transfers, 87% of cross chain volume, all self reported. cool story, i will wait for independent numbers
lmao the 170 blockchains number is also layerzero sourced. everything about their marketing cites themselves
self sourced stats are standard for every interoperability pitch tho. audited numbers or it didnt happen, always
the 87 percent cross chain claim counts every OFT transfer including testnet noise and airdrop farming. audited volume is a fraction of that, still big, just not the number in the deck
USAT going omnichain first was telegraphed. Tether put money into LayerZero back in February, of course their token jumps the queue ahead of USDPT.
western union, OSL and falcon tokens already sitting on the anchorage platform and usat is just first out the door. the queue is the real story
western union tokens settling on a federally chartered bank chain setup is the real headline. stablecoin rails are eating correspondent banking from the inside
Federally chartered bank picking LayerZero as its default rail is a big validation for OFT. USAT going omnichain first means every institution watching this now has a template to copy.
Template yes, but remember LayerZero had that whole 2024 drama over stake.farm votes. Hoping Anchorage demands strict default config checks and not just trust the DVN set as shipped.
default config is the whole ballgame here. if anchorage runs its own DVN stack this means something, if they ship the default set its just marketing with a bank logo
The bank running its own DVN set is the only version of this that passes an OCC exam. Default config is fine for memecoins, deadly for deposits
bastiaan has the OCC point right but the counter is anchorage IS the dvn operator scenario. bank chartered validator set is the only version where USAT omnichain survives an audit anyway
Casper the audit point is bigger than people admit. an OCC examined validator set is the only way a bank token on seven chains survives a controls review
anchorage running its own DVN stack would be the first bank grade one in production. that single detail decides whether this is actual rails or a press release with a charter attached
dvn config is everything. anchorage has the balance sheet to run its own validator stack, if they ship defaults its a nothingburger with a bank sticker
The quiet part is the issuance platform already has Western Union, OSL and Falcon Finance tokens on it. This is not a pilot, Anchorage is lining up the whole roster to run on LayerZero.
USAT going omnichain before USDPT even clears qc is tether flexing its february layerzero investment. watch three more issuers copy this template by q1
ofT unified supply beats mint and burn for a regulated issuer, attestations stay in one place. USAT first was always the plan after the feb layerzero investment
unified supply also means one freeze switch across every chain. regulators will read that single point of control as a feature, memecoin people will call it a backdoor
solana deployment is the sleeper line in here. ofT on svm is still young, western union tokens moving cross chain will be the first real test
USAT going omnichain before the western union tokens even ship is tether funding the interoperability layer in february and shipping on it by september. that sequence was not accidental