What Every Exchanger Should Know About Tether (USDT)

A customer says: "Send me some Tether." You don't have a wallet. You get an address from a fellow exchanger, the customer sends, and that's that. But what if a single character of that address is different? What if the Tether goes out on the wrong network? Who answers for it then?

An exchanger knows currency better than anyone. This article explains the basics of Tether in that same language of currency: what Tether is, where its rate comes from, which "road" it travels on, what each transfer costs, how to set up your own wallet and what the real receipt of a transfer is. You can also watch the video version of this tutorial:

What Tether is

Tether (USDT) is a digital dollar. Each Tether is meant to be worth roughly one dollar, but it is not any government's money; it is issued by a private company (Tether).

Keep this in mind, because it has a big practical consequence: that company can freeze any wallet it wants, and the Tether inside that wallet becomes effectively worthless. We cover this risk in the article on Tether scams.

Tether's market price

You know well that cash dollars in Tehran, Herat, Sulaymaniyah, Istanbul and Dubai each trade a little above or below the others, depending on supply and demand. Tether is one more market alongside these; it is not always exactly equal to the dollar.

Its ups and downs depend mostly on the crypto market: when Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies move sharply up or down, demand for Tether changes too. Its gap with the dollar is usually under one percent and rarely reaches two percent.

The practical takeaway fits in one sentence: quote Tether separately from the dollar and account for it separately. Treating Tether as "the same as the dollar" means, at high volumes, profit and loss that never shows up in your books.

Networks: one Tether, several roads

A single Tether can travel on several different "roads". We call these roads networks:

The main rule is simple: sender and receiver must be on the same network, just like a transfer that has to go to the right bank. If you send on the wrong network, at best getting it back is a hassle, and at worst the money is lost.

The address itself gives the network away: a TRON address always starts with T, while BNB Chain and Ethereum addresses start with "0x". Before every transfer, confirm the network with the other side.

For a fuller comparison of networks and the risk of sending on the wrong one, see also USDT in a currency exchange.

Transfer fees on the TRON network

On TRON, transfer fees are paid with something called energy. If your wallet has no energy, the network takes TRON's own currency (TRX) instead and burns it:

(Dollar figures based on the TRX price in October 2026; they move with the price of TRX.)

In other words, a fresh wallet costs more. For most transfers there is a way to cut this cost to less than half: renting energy, which is explained in the second article.

Setting up your own wallet

So you are not dependent on a fellow exchanger's address, set up your own wallet. The simplest option is the Trust Wallet app, and it is enough for most day-to-day exchange-office work:

1. Download the app only from the official store (Google Play or App Store).
2. Tap "Create a wallet" and set a six-digit passcode for opening the app.
3. The wallet is ready and has a separate address for each network. To get your TRON address: tap "Receive" and set the network at the top of the screen to Tron; the address that starts with T is your Tether address.
4. In the backup section (Manage → Show secret phrase), view and write down the 12 words. The app does not force you to, but do it on day one.

12 words = the key to the safe

Those 12 words (the recovery phrase) are the key to your safe: whoever has them owns the money — from anywhere in the world.

• Write them on paper and keep them somewhere safe.
• No photos, no WhatsApp, no file on your phone.
• And never give them to anyone — not even someone who says they are "from support".

The security of your wallet depends on exactly these two things: the passcode you set on the app, and where you keep the 12 words.

There is one more option: the TronLink app, built specifically for TRON wallets. Setting it up is almost the same, and because it shows the wallet's energy, it makes renting energy easier.

The transaction receipt is the hash

Every transfer on the network has a unique identifier called the hash (TXID): a long string of letters and numbers. The hash is like the tracking number on a bank receipt, with one big difference: anyone can check it on the network themselves, without having to trust anyone's word.

Paste the hash into a site such as Tronscan and read four things in this order:

1. Status: a failed transaction also has a hash and even shows an amount. Only "SUCCESSFUL" means the money arrived.
2. Which token: the name "USDT" is not enough; real Tether is identified by its contract address (on TRON: TR7NHqjeKQxGTCi8q8ZY4pL8otSzgjLj6t).
3. Amount.
4. Recipient: read the recipient address in full, character by character, not just the first and last few characters.

And one rule that always applies: a screenshot is not a receipt. Do not accept anything that cannot be checked on the network. (It is the same logic as verifying payment receipts: a picture is not proof.)

In practice: recording by hash in Nexto

In the Nexto exchange accounting software, this checking is done by the software itself. From the "Receipts & Payments" menu, open "Crypto Transaction" and paste the hash:

• The network, currency, amount, wallet and direction of the transaction are read directly from the blockchain, so it is clear whether the money came into your wallet or went out of it.
• The recipient is compared character by character with the exchange office's own registered wallets.
• The same hash can never be recorded twice.
• Your wallet balances are reconciled with the network itself every night (nightly report).

Summary

Those were the basics. The next step is where exchangers actually lose money: Tether scams at exchange offices and how to prevent them.