Lessons from Paolo Ardoino

In an ever-evolving digital landscape, Paolo Ardoino, the Chief Executive Officer of Tether, has emerged as a prominent and often outspoken figure. His perspectives on stablecoins, Bitcoin, financial freedom, and the future of technology offer a glimpse into the driving philosophy behind one of the most influential companies in the cryptocurrency space.

On Tether's Mission and Financial Inclusion

On Tether's core purpose: "Tether is a stable company. The way we think about it is that Tether aims to bring stability to society. That is our focus." [1]
On serving the unbanked: "The entire reason of existence of USDT our stable coin is the fact that the traditional financial system left behind three billion people in the world that are called underbanked or unbanked...not because they are bad people but because they are too poor of being of interest to the banks." [1]
On the impact in emerging markets: "USDT has become the lifeline for hundreds of millions of people around the world especially in emerging markets." [1]
On providing basic financial services: "With stable coins and USDT, we gave them for the first time in their lives the ability to have access to payments to have to start creating their first savings account directly on the smartphone." [1]
On the growth in emerging markets: "We are very humbled and excited about this growth because it means that the product that we created it's uh very useful and powerful and is helping all those people that struggle to have access to bank accounts." [2]
On outperforming traditional aid: "I think Bitcoin and Tether made so much more for financial inclusion that any sponsored NGO or charity in the world." [2]
On the distinction between USDT and USA₮: "USDT, often referred to as the digital dollar, is primarily used in emerging markets...In contrast, USA₮ is specifically designed for the U.S. market." [3]
On empowering individuals in developing nations: "Through this collaboration with Coins.ph, we hope to equip Filipinos with the knowledge and tools to navigate the exciting world of blockchain technologies. Tether is proud to spearhead a movement that combines cutting-edge technology, education, and financial inclusion." [4]
On the motivation behind serving emerging markets: "Tether is successful because we serve as their checking and sales accounts. So if State Street or anyone else wants to come into those countries and compete with us, we are happy because, in the end, we've made more money than we could believe and think and dream for hundreds of years." [5]
On the reality of financial inclusion: "Financial inclusion shouldn't be a marketing pitch. Financial inclusion should be done properly. And I think that USDT and Tether are actually doing much more than any almost any other company in the world to achieve that." [1]

On Bitcoin and Decentralization

On the nature of Bitcoin: "Bitcoin is the only currency in the world that is governed by math. Everything that we have, all the other currency in the world are controlled by humans. Humans change, humans become greedy, or just fail. Math is the only thing that is certain in universe." [6]
On Bitcoin's resilience: "Bitcoin to me is the peak of technology for finance that is resistant to the wrath of God...if the world blows up will continue to work and will continue to help and serve people." [1]
On Bitcoin as the ultimate alternative: "In the long term, I don't believe there is a future for USDT. I expect a financial reset, where all national currencies will collapse and experience hyperinflation. Consequently, USDT will be completely useless, and at that point, I believe the world will only use Bitcoin." [7]
On Tether's commitment to Bitcoin: "We are all Bitcoiners at heart uh every everyone in our company loves Bitcoin." [8]
On the importance of Bitcoin mining: "It's very important to do bitcoin mining because exactly that is the hedge that is our protection for our bitcoin treasury is actually participating to the security of the bitcoin mining network itself."
On Bitcoin's core philosophy: "I interpret Bitcoin's core philosophy as a commitment to financial freedom, decentralisation, and empowering individuals to take control of their own wealth." [9]
On the uniqueness of Bitcoin: "I ultimately believe that Bitcoin is unique — it's the only truly decentralised, unstoppable asset in the world. It's ruled by math, not committees." [9]
On the relationship between USDT and Bitcoin: "USDT serves as a bridge from fiat to Bitcoin. When fiat collapses, Bitcoin will be the only alternative." [7]
On the future of money: "Until we have Bitcoin as the main form of currency in the world and open technology accessible to everyone we are not going to have a stable society." [6]
On the vision of a decentralized future: "The convergence of Bitcoin and AI may finally change that by putting power back in the hands of people, not platforms." [10]

On Technology, Innovation, and Building for the Future

On building resilient technology: "I learned about the importance of creating technology that resists to the wrath of God. Technology that serves the humans in the worst case scenario, rather than just work in the best case scenario." [6]
On the failure of centralized tech: "Technology that we have in our lives only works in the best case scenario...if there is a war what happens if there is a catastrophe how many of these apps will continue to work. I can bet that 19 of them at least will fail you." [1]
On Tether's expansion into AI: "Tether AI has one key goal: to be the ideal technological foundation to achieve the vision of AI described in Asimov's science fiction books. AI will become, in the coming decades, part of the very fabric of the universe." [11]
On the vision for AI agents: "Tether AI tech will enable an unstoppable peer-to-peer network of billions of AI agents." [12]
On removing intermediaries: "I believe that in finance and in big tech we have too many intermediaries...the role of Tether is coming up with solutions, technology and tools that will remove as many intermediaries as possible from the equation from our lives."
On open-source development: "Building in the open is a key strategy for fostering transparency and trust within the cryptocurrency sector." [13]
On the future of AI and payments: "I see a future where AI agents should be fully decentralized, should settle their transactions on the Bitcoin network they should have access to a non-custodial wallet." [2]
On the motivation for innovation: "My greatest passion is pushing the boundaries of what's possible with technology; my favourite thing to do has been experimenting with how new technologies can be harnessed to solve some of the world's most pressing problems." [9]
On the concept of the apocalypse as a driving force: "I really want to start using the concept of the apocalypse as a driving concept for our company...it's actually an extremely powerful concept to speak about." [14]
On the broader vision beyond stablecoins: "Since I took the reins as CEO, we have transformed Tether from just being a stablecoin company...what we did with a stablecoin is called disintermediation." [5]

On Regulation, Transparency, and the Market

On collaboration with law enforcement: "There is no company… even in the traditional financial system, that has such a breadth of collaboration with law enforcement. We are always trying to do better and more to block criminal activity… we have much better tools than the traditional financial system and we're proving that every day." [11]
On the importance of transparency: "We believe that open communication and strong financials foster trust and reliability, and this is what the global community deserves especially in a year devastated by many failures across the banking and crypto industry." [15][16]
On facing market pressure: "In May 2022 Tether was subject to $7 billion of redemption over 48 hours...and we were subject within 25 days to 20 billion of of redemptions...that was 25% of our total market cap." [1]
On competitors' intentions: "While our competitors business model should be to build a better product and even bigger distribution network, their real intent is 'Kill Tether.' Every single business or political meeting that they have culminates with this intent." [17]
On the introduction of a US-regulated stablecoin: "Today, with the introduction of USA₮...we are taking the next natural step, bringing that same strength to the U.S. under a world-leading U.S.-regulatory framework." [18]
On Tether's resilience: "It was quite an interesting moment. It forced us to prove to the world that we actually were solid." [19]
On the future of stablecoin competition in the US: "I see a huge competition with probably tens or hundreds potentially of stable coins all fighting each other. and will basically be a race to the bottom for the profitability of these stable coins in very high efficient markets like the United States."
On Tether's profitability: "In the last two years, Tether made around $12 billion in profit. $5 billion of those $12 billion are kept as additional excess reserves in the stablecoin...The rest, around $6 billion, is being invested in various initiatives, including Bitcoin and startups, but they are completely separate from the stablecoin reserves." [20]
On the company's use of profits: "While the world continues to get darker, Tether will continue to invest part of its profits into safe assets like Bitcoin, Gold, and Land." [21][22]
On the importance of communication: "I think one thing that we could have done better in the past and we're getting better at now is communications." [23]

On Personal Philosophy and Leadership

On his work ethic: "I'm workaholic for sure but I'm uh I I like to I get excited by challenges and both companies bring different challenges."
On the source of his passion: "Since I was bad in art and and and drawing and so on was a way to explain to to the outside to other people what I had in my mind."
On his early career in traditional finance: "I was working with banks i was working with different different hedge funds uh must say very very boring. um very annoying frustrating because the technology finance is uh it was the traditional finance is very very old is like for 30 40 years old is kept together by rubber bands."
On the feeling of letting users down: After a major hack, "I was heartbroken...you don't want to let your users down. So you want to you are angry you are uh heartbroken."
On the importance of his team: "The biggest win is the team."
On his vision for the future of cryptocurrency: "A vision of innovation, transparency, and honest work, ensuring that the industry continues to thrive and evolve." [3]
On staying humble: "If you're new to the space, I'd encourage you to look beyond the surface. Bitcoin is not just an investment — it's a technological and philosophical framework for freedom."
On the motivation to keep building: "I wake up happy, even through challenging times. I feel blessed for the opportunity that I have." [19]
On the long-term perspective: "I cannot wait for for the next uh what would be 2036 interview where we go back to the last 12 years."
On the opportunity at hand: "We made more money than we could believe and think and dream for hundreds of years. So my biggest fear is to waste this once-in-one-hundred-years opportunity." [5]

Learn more:

Lessons from Paolo Ardoino

On Tether's Mission and Financial Inclusion

On Bitcoin and Decentralization

On Technology, Innovation, and Building for the Future

On Regulation, Transparency, and the Market

On Personal Philosophy and Leadership

Written by Antoine Buteau

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