Written by: Connie Loizos
Compiled by: AididiaoJP, Foresight News
Original title: What are the highest-paid CEOs in the crypto doing right now?
If you've been following the news lately, you might have noticed a trend over the past week. In addition to extensive coverage in Fortune and Bloomberg, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino also gave interviews to Reuters and TechCrunch. Why has this founder of a controversial stablecoin suddenly launched such a comprehensive media campaign?
The timing is no coincidence. This week, Tether launched a new product called USAT , its first stablecoin fully compliant with US federal regulations, issued through Anchorage Digital Bank, designed to directly compete with Circle's USDC. Meanwhile, Fidelity Investments also launched its own stablecoin on Wednesday, joining the increasingly fierce battle between JPMorgan Chase and PayPal.
This marks a significant shift. For years, Paolo Ardoino had stayed away from the United States, evading regulatory investigations and prosecutorial pursuits overseas. His company was frequently labeled as "opaque" and "suspected of fraud," with The Economist even calling it "a money launderer's dream" last summer.
But in a video interview this week, Paolo Ardoino made it clear: those days are over. Tether is meeting with White House officials, cooperating with the FBI and Secret Service, and hoping that USAT can break Circle's monopoly in the US market. (USAT is different from Tether's flagship USDT, which has a global circulation of $187 billion but does not meet new US regulatory requirements.) The 41-year-old Paolo Ardoino, interviewed at Tether's Lugano, Switzerland office, spent over an hour explaining how the company went from a cryptocurrency player to mainstream recognition.
Tether's momentum is indeed undeniable. Its USDT is essentially a blockchain-based digital dollar, capable of cross-border circulation without relying on a single institution, and its market capitalization exceeds the combined total of all other stablecoins. It boasts approximately 536 million users, growing at a rate of 30 million per quarter. "Its growth rate is more like Facebook than a typical fintech application," said Paolo Ardoino.
He believes that Tether's first-mover advantage is not only market dominance, but also transformative impact on people in countries with weak currencies. "Over the past five years, the Argentine peso has depreciated by 94.5% against the dollar," he points out. "The average daily income in Haiti is only $1.34. These people have never been covered by the traditional financial system."
"Tether has created the largest financial inclusion success story in human history," he added.
Paolo Ardoino knows that more effort is needed to gain more trust. Last summer's Economist report did little to help—it revealed that Russian money launderer Ekaterina Zhdanova allegedly used Tether to connect British drug cartels, Moscow hackers, sanctioned oligarchs, and Russian intelligence agents.
When asked about the report, Paolo Ardoino downplayed it, saying the amount involved was "just a drop in the ocean." "The vast majority of USDT users are ordinary people," he said. "We have partnered with nearly 300 law enforcement agencies in over 60 countries. iPhones and Toyotas can also be misused by bad actors, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the products themselves."
He further pointed out that Tether's technology has an advantage over cash in tracking illicit activities. "Hundreds of billions of dollars are circulating globally, making it difficult for US law enforcement agencies to track them. But through USDT, we cooperate with hundreds of agencies, including the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Secret Service, to quickly freeze funds."
According to him, Tether has frozen $3.5 billion in tokens, most of which belong to "scammed or hacked users." For example, in 2023, Tether identified and froze $225 million in a "pig butchering" scam that traditional financial systems failed to detect. (A "pig butchering" scam refers to a fraudster building trust or even a romantic relationship online to lure victims into making fake investments.)
"We work closely with the FBI and the Secret Service, and strictly adhere to OFAC sanctions regulations," he said.
Whether critics are satisfied is unclear, but Tether has certainly weathered crisis after crisis. Just three months ago, S&P Global Ratings noted that USDT was relatively unstable.
Paolo Ardoino disagreed: "If this is the S&P that completely failed to predict the subprime crisis back then, then I'm proud that they think we're 'weak'."
He mentioned that in the spring of 2022, another major stablecoin, TerraLuna, suddenly collapsed, wiping out $40 billion overnight and triggering market panic. Hedge funds bet that Tether would be next, leading to a massive run on deposits. "We redeemed $7 billion in 48 hours—10% of our reserves; and $20 billion in 20 days—25% of our reserves. No bank in the world could withstand that kind of run, but we did it."
He alluded to another competitor (clearly referring to Circle) for its poor performance during the banking crisis. When Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in 2023, Circle's disclosure of a $3 billion exposure caused the USDC to briefly de-peg. When asked about Circle, often portrayed as a "cleaner alternative," Paolo Ardoino's PR team quickly interrupted, and he only managed to say, "If you don't bow to Wall Street, people will look at you differently."
Paolo Ardoino emphasized that Tether currently holds $30 billion in excess reserves, far exceeding its redemption needs. These reserves are managed by Cantor Fitzgerald—a Wall Street firm led for over 30 years by Howard Lutnick, who became U.S. Commerce Secretary a year ago. Lutnick has publicly endorsed Tether, and the firm earns substantial fees for managing Tether's massive Treasury bond assets, creating a complex interplay of commercial interests and policy influence.
Paolo Ardoino believes that Tether is safer than traditional banks. "Banks operate on a 90% fractional-reserve requirement; if you deposit $1 million, only $100,000 stays in the bank, and $900,000 is lent out. But even if Bitcoin goes to zero, our holdings are enough to cover all the USDT already issued."
The massive reserves generate massive profits. Fortune reports that Tether's profits will exceed $15 billion in 2025, primarily from reserve interest – unlike savings accounts, this interest is not shared with USDT holders. When asked if he would consider sharing the interest, Paolo Ardoino stated that while US users are accustomed to interest, the primary need of Tether's core users is to preserve value.
"The Turkish lira has depreciated by 81% against the dollar in five years, and the Argentine peso by 94.5%. For someone whose currency depreciates by 3% daily, an annualized interest rate of 4% is meaningless. For the rest of the world, a dollar stablecoin is like a savings account; but for Americans, it's more like a checking account."
Tether's decision not to share profits may also have legal considerations. The Clarity Act , currently being pushed forward in Congress, could prohibit stablecoin issuers from paying interest to holders to prevent deposits from flowing out of traditional banks. If passed, this would solidify Tether's existing model and hurt competitors like Circle that are trying out rewards programs.
More than just stablecoins
Paolo Ardoino's ambitions extend far beyond USDT. Tether Gold, a gold-backed token launched in 2020, currently has a circulating supply of $2.6 billion, equivalent to users holding the equivalent value of gold. But Tether's gold strategy is even more ambitious: according to an interview with Bloomberg, the company holds approximately 140 tons of gold, worth about $24 billion, making it one of the world's largest private gold holders.
Why launch gold products? Paolo Ardoino says it's to provide choice in an uncertain world. "Gold was the earliest and most widely used form of currency. With blockchain, for the first time, we can make gold not only a store of value, but also a medium of exchange."
"When the product was launched, we were almost treated like lunatics," he recalled. Tether then purchased gold at a rate of 1-2 tons per week, which Aldoino called "building one of the world's largest gold central banks."
But the company's investment in AI reveals a grander vision. About nine months ago, Tether launched Qvac, a decentralized AI platform named after Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question"—which Paolo Ardoino considers "the greatest science fiction work."
His positioning of Qvac is consistent with USDT: serving the neglected population. "USDT has never targeted JPMorgan Chase's clients; we serve those abandoned by traditional finance," he said, adding that centralized AI platforms also miss out on billions of users who cannot afford to subscribe.
"If they can't even afford a $150 annual bank account, they certainly can't afford an expensive AI platform." Qvac will be able to run locally on smartphones. Aldoino predicts that within three to five years, today's high-performance smartphones will be widespread in Africa and South America, covering 80% of AI use cases. "USDT will empower the world's largest decentralized AI platform."
Even so, Qvac is just one part of a grand strategy. Fortune reports that Tether has invested over $1 billion in German AI robotics company Neura, $775 million in social media platform Rumble, and hundreds of millions more in satellites, data centers, agriculture, and other sectors. The magazine describes Tether as transforming into an entity "similar to a sovereign wealth fund."
From the outside, these investments—including the stake in Juventus Football Club—may seem unrelated. But Paolo Ardoino insists they are intrinsically consistent: "Tether's mission is 'stability.' We invest in land, livestock, agriculture, modern technology, gold… all with the common goal of ensuring Tether continues to be a cornerstone of our users' world."
He envisioned an interconnected system: digital agriculture, a revolution in the gold market, and peer-to-peer communication. "We want to build a company that stands the test of time, a socially impactful enterprise that changes the lives of hundreds of millions of people, providing them with unprecedented 'stability'."
When asked about the political risks—that the next U.S. government might view Tether as a threat, as the previous one did—Paolo Ardoino said he was prepared.
"I hope that financial inclusion, and bringing 536 million people into the dollar system, is something that concerns both parties, and that requires education."
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