Tether tokens are created by multiple Tether private keys signing and broadcasting a creation transaction on a specific blockchain. These new tokens are "authorized but not issued," meaning these USD₮ tokens are stored in Tether's vault and do not circulate until they are issued. Tether tokens are "issued" when they are transferred out of the Tether vault, which may be purchased through tether.to.
Tether's multi-signature (or multi-sig) model prevents a single person from self-authorizing Tether tokens, which would result in a single point of failure and security risk.
