Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, is working with the National Bank of Georgia to launch a digital token tied to the Georgian lari. The planned stablecoin, called GELT, would be backed one-to-one by the local currency. Georgia’s central bank released formal stablecoin rules in March that lay out reserve requirements, documentation for issuers, and mandatory checks by external auditors.
What Georgia’s new rules require
The regulations published in March cover three main areas. Issuers must maintain full reserve backing for every token in circulation. They also need to submit a set of documents — including a whitepaper, governance details, and proof of reserves — before a stablecoin can operate. An external auditor must verify those reserves on a regular basis. The rules apply to any stablecoin issued in or from Georgia, whether backed by the lari or another currency.
Tether’s role in the project
Tether is partnering with the National Bank of Georgia on the GELT project, but the company’s exact responsibilities haven’t been spelled out. Tether has years of experience running USDT, a dollar-pegged stablecoin that’s the most traded crypto asset by volume. Georgia’s central bank is also taking an active role — the stablecoin is being designed under its oversight, not simply as a private-sector product.
The GELT name mirrors the lari’s own currency code, GEL, with a T tacked on. The token is meant to offer the stability of the lari in digital form, potentially for payments, remittances, and other uses inside Georgia’s financial system.
No launch date has been announced. The central bank hasn’t said whether GELT will first be tested in a pilot or go straight to the public. What’s clear is that Georgia wants to set a clear legal framework for stablecoins before any of them go live.
