Credit: Anna Tutova, Founder AI Crypto Minds, with Paolo Ardoino, CEO Tether.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether (CRYPTO: USDT), exudes the calm confidence of a man steering the world's largest stablecoin issuer through turbulent markets. The Italian-born executive opened up about Tether's Middle East and US ambitions, its explosive growth, and a future where Bitcoin and gold-backed digital assets challenge traditional finance.
Tether’s Q3 2025 attestation confirmed over $10 billion in profit billion in profit(Q1-Q3) mostly from U.S. Treasury holdings(now exceeding $135 billion) and a user base exceeding 500 million. Additionally Tether has become the world’s largest independent holder of gold with over 116 tons of gold stored in Switzerland. In December 2025, the company announced a proposed acquisition of Juventus FC, launched a health tech platform and expanded its fintech push into Africa.
Tether's partnership with UAE-based real estate tech platform Reelly Tech in February and plans for USDT Dirham marked its latest push into the MENA region. For Ardoino, Dubai and Abu Dhabi represent more than just growth markets—they're symbols of regulatory foresight: "So I believe that Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the land of opportunities when it comes to the digital asset industry. Being European is a bit sad because I think Europe should have been the place that should have taken the lead on digital assets. And even the UK that had the biggest opportunity out there after becoming again an independent country in 2016, could have led and paved the way. And neither the UK or Europe actually had the guts, intelligence, and the long-term vision to understand the importance of the digital assets industry and now every single company is looking at going back to the US or coming here".
Ardoino's recent U.S. trips hint at another priority: a regulated stablecoin tailored for American payments and institutional rails. Tether is projected to launch USA₮, U.S.-regulated, dollar-backed stablecoin in the late December 2025 to be distributed via Rumble (RUM), the video sharing platform Tether invested $775 million into last year. Paolo Ardoino commented: "I think that there is an opportunity in the US. We believe that there is an opportunity to create a US-based stablecoin, that has a different value proposition of our international stablecoin. Our international stablecoin is made for emerging markets and developing countries. That is its strength. But I think that a US stablecoin would need to look at being a product for payments and banking and more institutional professional rails".
Despite political headwinds—rivals lobbying to sideline Tether—he's optimistic. "We are seeing the US very interested to hear our story and look at the benefits that we’re bringing to the US. So far it’s been very positive, our engagement." On Trump-era policies, he praises the new administration`s "180-degree shift": "Look at the SEC dropping all the charges against most of the companies attacked. So it proves that they are actually interested in making the US the dominant country for digital assets.
But in general, we are living in a very uncertain time with tariffs and all that. So tariffs could be tricky and could push other governments to start looking more inwards to their own country and their neighbors rather than looking at the US as the main trading partner so it’s an evolving dynamic and more complex to predict the exact outcome".
With Tether holding over 87,296 Bitcoin ($7.61 billion at current prices), some experts suggest that it's already morphing into a Bitcoin company. Paolo Ardoino says: "We are believers in Bitcoin as the ultimate store of value".
Twenty One, the Bitcoin-native company co-founded by Tether and Bitcoin lightning network pioneer Jack Mallers and backed by SoftBank and Cantor Equity Partners, completed its business combination and began trading on the (NYSE:XXI) on December 9, 2025. The company launched with 43,514 Bitcoin, making it the world’s third-largest public corporate holder. The entity aims to rival MicroStrategy but with a twist. Paolo Ardoino explains: "Twenty One as a company for us is just not going to be just a public company, but it’s going to be also an effort to educate everyone on the importance of Bitcoin".
SoftBank's involvement—a first in Bitcoin—signals institutional validation. "We are very proud to have been the company that was able to bring SoftBank, such a behemoth of investments, to the table. And the CEO of this company is Jack Mallers. That is, I think, the best voice in the Bitcoin industry. He is a person, very young, but very intelligent, able to express in detail the importance of Bitcoin to the broader world.", Ardoino says. Initial capital comes from Tether, SoftBank, and Cantor, with plans for ongoing fundraising via convertibles or equity.
Unlike MicroStrategy's aggressive accumulation strategy, Twenty One starts "vanilla," prioritizing Bitcoin-per-share (BPS) metrics. "We want to make it very conservative and have proper risk management. We believe that it is important to create a company that is sustainable, even in very-very highly volatile markets. We know how in the past Bitcoin was used to 80 percent drawdown, so the risk management will be done very carefully".
Anna Tutova: And as well with all this uncertainty your other product Tether Gold became pretty popular, Tether currently holds over 116 tons of gold in Switzerland and has become the world’s largest independent holder of gold. So can you tell more about this and do you see the big interest in Tether Gold?
Paolo Ardoino: I believe Tether Gold is going to be a very important product as an alternative to dollar-based stable coins if you especially think about India, Turkey, Nigeria, Africa in general, and also Central South America. The population living in these countries have had gold very rooted in their families for thousands of years. And so especially with the tariffs and the uncertainty and unhappiness that the tariffs are creating outside the US, that there could be a push towards an alternative to the dollar and the gold-backed stablecoin, I believe, is the best option.
Keep in mind that Tether Gold is already 6.6 times bigger than the biggest euro-based stablecoin and Tether Gold (CRYPTO: XAUT) is already 2.233 billion dollars market cap and the biggest euro stablecoin is 338+ million dollars.
So it proves that euro as a currency is not a competitor to the US dollar but not even gold. People outside Europe don’t care about the euro, they will never accept the euro for any business thing, but they would love to have either the dollar or gold.
Anna: Do you see as well for example central banks referring to the Tether Gold in the future, in a few years maybe?
Paolo: I believe that central banks, especially BRICS countries` central banks are going to issue their gold backed stablecoin. If you see the price of gold growing up two times in the last two years, it’s because central banks of the BRICS countries are buying large quantities of gold and because they are preparing to issue a digital currency backed by gold.
Anna: What are your expectations from the market this year?
Paolo: I’m always bullish on Bitcoin.
Anna: When $1 trillion MC for USDT?
Paolo: Good question. Maybe 2030. Look, it depends on how the world goes. The success of USDT is directly proportional to the success of different nations monetary policies.
Anna: And as well, with Tether you actively invest into different companies from completely different sectors, not only crypto, but as well AI, agriculture, even football club Juventus. So can you tell more about this?
Paolo: So we have a portfolio at this moment of our company that is around 20 billion dollars, that is outside the reserves of Tether, so those 20 billion dollars are for investments. And we decided to have a risk-managed approach to the investments.
So a portion of these profits are invested in stable long-term companies. To me, Adecoagro, which is a land and agricultural company, is a long-term stable investment.
Then we have another portion of the investments invested in amplifying our digital and physical distribution network for the US dollar and Tether gold. For example, we are building kiosks in Africa that deal with the USDT plus bodegas in Central South America and all that. So we have an infrastructure expansion to play with part of the profits.
And the third one is more like investments on new technologies like artificial intelligence and biotech, energy development and all that.
So we have these three buckets, and we are locating funds based on the stability and long-term growth, then medium-sized investment to amplify the distribution network of Tether and then the reminder for more futuristic investments.
Anna: Yeah, that will definitely be great. And as well can you explain to your grandma what you do?
Paolo: Very difficult, I think that the base product of Tether in our company is just a digital dollar.
Anna: And on the side of Bitcoin, how would you explain Bitcoin then?
Paolo: Bitcoin is the only currency that instead of being governed by humans, is governed by math. That is the only certainty that we have in the universe. Yeah, that’s the exact description.
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