In an exclusive interview with 99Bitcoins, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino discusses the US elections, the possibility of a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, the need for “smart regulation”, plans to finance commodity trading companies, and stablecoins Competitors like Ripple, artificial intelligence (AI), etc.
Let’s talk about the American election. Do you prefer one candidate over another?
Well, I think what’s interesting is that Bitcoin is on the political agenda for both candidates. right. So they both understand that there are millions of voters (interested in cryptocurrencies). And either way, it will be a net positive. That’s what I believe.
When you recently spoke in Washington, DC, you said you were very optimistic about cryptocurrencies in the United States. In your words, things will change for the better. So if change is coming, do you want the U.S. to be the first to act on the regulatory front?
I think the United States is attracting attention from around the world. Therefore, many other regulators are also likely to copy this regulation. For example, everything changed when the US approved ETFs. Many countries followed suit.
So I think it’s important for the United States to build smart regulations that not only protect the end customer, but also allow the industry and technology to thrive. I think European regulators, for example, tend to crush the industry with bureaucracy instead of actually trying to help the industry develop in the right way to protect users.
Do you think it is possible that there will be a Bitcoin strategic reserve in the future?
Bitcoin preparation is a very good idea and a very smart idea. I think each country should actually consider this. Because eventually it will. And you don’t want to be the last country to start reviewing Bitcoin in its central bank reserves.
Exploration: Will a USD-backed strategic Bitcoin reserve become a reality?
Tether CEO says competitors are heading in the wrong direction
Your company made a huge profit of 5.2 billion in 2024 alone. You are now considering financing a commodity trading company. How does Tether plan to structure these loans and what measures does it envisage to guard against potential systemic risks?
Therefore this is very important. We have not yet decided how we will participate in commodity trading, but it will have to be done outside of our stablecoin reserves. For us, the most important thing to protect is stablecoins. This is a product used by millions of people around the world, primarily by poor people in emerging markets and developing countries. We would never do anything to jeopardize that.
But when it comes to profit, it’s actually part of the profit. Because part of the profits will still be in the stablecoin reserves, pushing it further. The rest of the profits will be used for another company. The company is a separate company that invests in interesting opportunities such as AI and commodity trading.
So, at this level, isolation becomes the way to protect stablecoins.
What do you think about Ripple’s announcement that it will also issue stablecoins? Is Tether concerned about that, or is the company planning to launch more stablecoins as PayPal and Revolut also have stablecoin plans? Are you welcoming them?
Let’s start with a joke. With everyone and their sisters doing stablecoins, it’s easy to name companies that aren’t trying to do stablecoins right now.
I’m actually excited about this because I think stablecoins are very important and very fundamental to many economies. I think there should be competition. So I feel like our competitors at the moment are focused on the wrong audience. So, to me, that’s kind of great. They focus on the wealthy people on Wall Street, the bankers. Have you ever heard the guys on Wall Street crying in the river because they can’t move their money?
Talk to people living in Türkiye, Argentina, Nigeria, and Venezuela. They have serious problems, right? And so many people are unbanked because they don’t have access to basic financial services.
So, just because you are great, your business may not be successful. It thrives because competitors are trying to look in the wrong direction.
Competitors are looking in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, you are considering tokenizing Türkiye’s borate mineral reserves.
I don’t know who said that to Bloomberg. I checked with the team.
It’s on the news. But you’re denying that, right?
I never said boron. I was in Türkiye a month ago. But I never thought Boron was a smart idea for a stablecoin.
So we created a commodity stablecoin that is gold. But all the gold ever extracted from humanity could fit in an Olympic swimming pool. So how much space do you need to store boron? You’d have to rent Switzerland to store it! That makes no sense.
By the way, even if it makes sense, we weren’t the ones who suggested this. That’s for sure!
And what about the United Arab Emirates? Are you close to securing a license for a dirham-pegged stablecoin?
Things are going well.
Do you have any release plans?
We are looking at the first quarter of 2025.
Explore: Tether unveils UAE dirham stablecoin for the Middle East
Are there any other expansion plans for Tether that we should know about?
We have 10 products in development, which is amazing.
We are launching a tokenization platform. We also plan to release communications, AI, and education-related products.
Ardoino Portfolio Revealed: Bitcoin is the Hero
While Bitcoin is compared to gold, Ethereum is said to be equivalent to silver. What percentage of your portfolio will be in Bitcoin and Ethereum?
0.01 for Ethereum. This is because moving USDT on Ethereum probably requires a small amount of Ethereum. The rest is Bitcoin. Everything else is Bitcoin.
The problem with Ethereum is that there is a group of developers who update Ethereum every few years to change monetary policy, from inflation to deflation, proof of work to proof of stake, and so on.
That’s exactly what we don’t like about governments and central banks. Every four or five years there will be an election and new people will come in and say, “Let’s do something different!”
That’s why we like Bitcoin. Because Bitcoin is reliable. It is exactly as it was born and will continue to be. I don’t want to take the risk of someone waking up at the Ethereum Foundation and deciding to change things.
Are there any upcoming AI innovations from Tether that you’re particularly excited about, and are you considering open sourcing your AI in the future?
Tether is investing in AI because we are already seeing it being used as a political tool, and I think AI is so powerful that it should be open. . Must be transparent.
And second, AI needs to be peer-to-peer. We cannot allow a few large companies with billions of dollars to control all of AI.
So we established three teams at Tether. One is for research and development of new models. The other is to build a platform-as-a-service for companies that want to work with their own models. The third is to work on an open source, peer-to-peer base, which is privacy-oriented AI. It makes sense to let companies build their own AI tools that protect user privacy.
Finally, what is it like to work for Tether in this day and age?
As a company, we want to remain independent. The company made $12 billion in profits over the past two years, most of which remained within the company and was not distributed to shareholders.
I believe working at Tether is a once-in-a-century opportunity. Of course, I’m very biased. Tether is more of an idea than a company.
Finally, Ardoino revealed that after achieving a profit of 5.2 billion in 2024, the company is prepared to use its cash to develop new products and focus on AI, telecommunications and education.
