Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino Hopes For Net Positive From US Elections, Says Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Is A Great Idea: 99Bitcoins Exclusive

In an exclusive interview with 99Bitcoins, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino talks about US elections, the possibility of Bitcoin strategic reserve, the need for “sensible regulations,” the company’s plan to lend to commodity trading firms, competitors like Ripple announcing stablecoins, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and more. 

Let’s talk about the US elections. Do you have a preference for one candidate over another? 

Well, I think the interesting thing is that, for both of the candidates, Bitcoin is on the political agenda. Right. So both of them understand that there are millions of (crypto interested) voters. And so either way it will be a net positive. So that’s what I believe.

Recently, while speaking in Washington DC, you said that you are very optimistic about crypto in the US. In your words, things are going to change for the better. So if changes are coming, what on the regulatory front would you like to see the US act upon first? 

I think the US is watched by the rest of the world. So many other regulators will tend to copy the regulations. For example, when the US approved ETFs, everything changed. Many countries followed suit. 

So I think it is important for the US to build a sensible regulation that protects the end customer but also allows the industry and the technology to thrive. Sometimes regulators, for example, I think the European one, tend to kill an industry with bureaucracy rather than actually trying to help the industry develop in the right way to protect the users. 

Do you think Bitcoin strategic reserve is a possibility in the future? 

Bitcoin reserves are a very good idea and very intelligent idea. I believe that every country should actually look into it. Because eventually it will happen. And you really don’t want to be the last country to start doing a Bitcoin review in your central bank reserves. 

Explore: Can A Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Backed USD Become A Reality?

Tether CEO Says Its Competition Is Looking In The Wrong Direction

Your company saw massive profits, 5.2 billion in 2014 alone. You are now exploring lending to commodity trading firms. How does Tether intend to structure these loans, and what measures do you envision to prevent potential systemic risks? 

So this is very important: we didn’t decide yet how we are going to participate in commodity trading, but that has to be done outside the reserves of the stablecoin. For us, the most important thing to defend is the stablecoin. That is a product that is used by millions of people around the world, mostly poor people in emerging markets and developing countries. We would never do anything to put that at risk. 

But with the profits, part of the profits actually, because part of the profits are still in the reserves of the stablecoin to even push it further. The other part of the profits are being used for a separate company; it’s a segregated company that invests in interesting opportunities like AI or commodity trading. 

So at this level, the segregation is how we protect the stablecoin. 

What do you think of Ripple’s announcement of also launching a stablecoin? Does Tether see it as a concern, or does the company welcome more stablecoins because PayPal and Revolut are also coming up with stablecoin plans?

I will start with a joke. It’s easier to name a company that is not trying to do a stablecoin now because everyone and their sisters are doing a stablecoin!

The reality is that I’m excited about it because I think that stablecoins are very important and very fundamental for many economies. I think that there should be competition. I mean, I feel like my competitors in this moment are focusing on the wrong audience. So for me, it’s great in a certain way. They’re focusing on the rich people, on the bankers, on Wall Street. Did you ever hear a Wall Street guy cry a river because they cannot move money? 

Talk to people that live in Turkey or in Argentina or Nigeria or in Venezuela – those people have real problems, right? And there are so many unbanked people they don’t have access to basic financial services.  

So sometimes your business does not thrive because you are great; it thrives because the competitors are trying to look in the wrong direction. 

Your competitors are looking in the wrong direction; meanwhile, you’re looking at tokenization of Turkey’s Borate mineral reserves. 

I don’t know who told Bloomberg that! I checked with the team. 

It is in the news. But you’re denying it?

We never said Boron. I was in Turkey one month ago. But I would never even think that Boron was an intelligent idea for a stablecoin. 

So we did our commodity stablecoins that are gold. But all the gold that has been ever extracted from humanity fits in an Olympic swimming pool. So, how much space do you need to store the boron? I will need to rent Switzerland to store it! So, it doesn’t make any sense. 

And by the way, even if it made sense, it is not us who proposed this. That’s for sure! 

And what about the UAE? Are you closer to securing the licensing for stablecoins pegged to Dirham?

We are making good progress.

Do you have any launch plans? 

We are looking at the first quarter of 2025. 

Explore: Tether Announces UAE Dirham Stablecoin for Middle East 

Any other expansion plans for Tether that we should know about? 

We have 10 products in the pipeline, which are incredible. 

We are launching a tokenization platform. We are launching other products related to telecommunication, AI and education. 

Ardoino’s Portfolio Reveal: Bitcoin Is The Hero

While Bitcoin is being likened to gold, Ethereum is being called the equivalent of silver. What percentage of your portfolio would be Bitcoin and Ethereum?

0.01 for Ethereum, Because I need maybe small quantities of Ethereum to move USDT on Ethereum. The rest is Bitcoin. Everything else, Bitcoin. 

The issue with Ethereum is that you have a group of developers that in every few years make an update to Ethereum to change the monetary policy, like from inflationary to deflationary, proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.

It’s exactly what we don’t like about governments and central banks. Every four years or five years there is an election, a new guy will come and say, Let’s do things differently! 

So we like Bitcoin. Because Bitcoin is certainty. It’s exactly as it was born and will remain like that. I don’t want to take that risk that someone will wake up in the Ethereum Foundation and decide to change things. 

Are there any upcoming AI innovations from Tether that you’re particularly excited about? And are you looking to make AI open source in the future?

Tether is investing in AI because we already see AI being used as a political instrument, and I think that AI is so powerful that it should be open; it should be transparent. 

And second, AI should be peer-to-peer. We cannot allow a few big companies that have billions and billions of dollars to control the entire AI.  

So we have set up three teams at Tether. One for researching and developing new models; another one for building a platform as a service for companies that want to treat their own models; and third to work on an open source peer-to-peer base that is privacy-oriented AI. It is ground to have companies build their own AI tools that will preserve the privacy of their users. 

And finally, what is it like working for Tether in the present day and age?

We want to remain independent as a company. We made 12 billion in profits in the last two years, of which the vast vast vast majority remains in the company, and were not distributed to the shareholders.

I believe that working for Tether is an opportunity that someone can have once in 100 years. Of course I’m very biased; Tether is more an idea than a company.

Finally, Ardoino revealed that after a 5.2 billion profit in 2024, he is ready to use the company’s cash reserves for building new products and to focus on AI, telecommunication, and education.

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