Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino: Tether will become the largest Bitcoin Miner in the world

Recently, Tether's Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino was interviewed by the Bankless podcast, where he conducted an in-depth discussion on Tether's business layout, compliance strategy, investment direction, and several other aspects. Here are the main points of the interview:

Attitude Towards the GENIUS Act and Compliance Preparations

Paolo stated that the passage of the GENIUS Act is an important step in the right direction, creating a compliance framework for both domestic and foreign stablecoins. Tether is fully prepared:

• Promoting the localization of stablecoin projects in the United States
• Continuously utilize self-developed monitoring technology to identify suspicious on-chain activities.
• Collaborate with over 250 law enforcement agencies worldwide
• Holding over 125 billion US Treasury bonds
• Having approximately $6 billion in excess reserves, with an overall reserve ratio exceeding 105%

Paolo believes that the GENIUS Act sets high standards, especially in terms of anti-money laundering and compliance, and Tether is well positioned to meet the requirements through a "comparable system".

The Relationship Between USDT and the Newly Launched Domestic Stablecoin in the United States

Paolo revealed that Tether plans to advance along two routes simultaneously:

1. Make USDT compliant with the GENIUS Act
2. Launching a brand new local stablecoin product in the United States

These two products target different use cases: USDT primarily serves emerging markets worldwide, while local stablecoins focus on the US market. Paolo believes that the business model of US stablecoins will differ from USDT and may resemble a "tokenized money market fund."

Tether's Investment Strategy

Tether's investment portfolio involves multiple sectors, including:

• Agriculture: Acquiring Adecoagro, one of the largest landowners in South America
• Biotechnology: Invest in brain-computer interface company Blackark Neurotech
• Football: Invest in the Italian Juventus Club
• AI: Develop a decentralized AI platform and smart wallet SDK(WDKS)
• Bitcoin mining: Expected to become the world's largest miner by the end of the year

Paolo emphasized that distribution capability is the primary consideration for Tether when evaluating investment projects.

Attitude towards Bitcoin

Paolo stated that the Tether team is very fond of Bitcoin and believes that Bitcoin has unique advantages:

• Truly removable, suitable for use in remote areas
• The speed and size of block generation are reasonable, which is beneficial for decentralization.
• Tether holds approximately 100,000 Bitcoins and invests heavily in mining.

Paolo expects that as block rewards approach zero, on-chain transaction fees will rise significantly in order to maintain network operations.

Gold Stablecoin Business

Tether currently holds about 80 tons of physical gold, some of which is used to issue gold-backed stablecoins. Users can exchange tokens for physical gold bars, but they need to reach the quantity of a whole gold bar (, which is approximately 400 ounces ).

Views on Global Stablecoin Regulation

Paolo believes that the GENIUS Act could become a template for global regulation. He criticized the European MiCA legislation's requirement of 60% of assets being held in uninsured bank accounts, arguing that this poses significant risks. Paolo hopes to see other countries develop stablecoin regulatory policies based on the GENIUS Act.

Tether and Its Relationship with the United States

Paolo emphasized that Tether is beneficial for the United States:

• Promote the global circulation of the US dollar, expand the dominance of the US dollar
• Become one of the major buyers of U.S. Treasury bonds
• A large amount of reinvestment in the United States
• Help the USD penetrate areas that U.S. banks cannot reach.

Paolo stated that the passage of the GENIUS Act will enable Tether to continue contributing to the United States in a more powerful way.