Tether’s Paolo Ardoino: A Key Ally of the US Government

Paolo Ardoino, head of the stablecoin USDT issuer Tether, stated in an interview with Cointelegraph that the company is doing everything possible to maintain good relations with the United States.

According to him, the firm manages this “much better” than its competitors, thanks to efforts in compliance and cooperation with authorities.

An additional reason for the good relations with the government is the ownership of US Treasury bills worth about $98 billion, making Tether one of the largest holders globally.

“I think Tether is the best friend of the US government because we own more US Treasury bills than Germany, and far more than competitors or any other financial institutions in the world,” Ardoino stated.

He explained the company’s rapid growth with a simple and user-friendly USDT model.

“You send us dollars, we send you USDT for the same amount. You send us tokens, and we send you dollars back. Then we invest the reserves in US Treasury bills and a few other safe assets. It’s that simple,” explained the Tether CEO.

Regarding algorithmic stablecoins, Ardoino noted that only simple things will work in the long term. According to him, the industry tends to create complex products.

The Tether CEO emphasized that the company has never promoted the use of USDT in DeFi, focusing instead on helping people who most needed an alternative payment system.

According to Ardoino, the greatest demand for stablecoins is concentrated not in Europe and the US, but in developing countries such as Argentina, Turkey, and Vietnam. Their citizens need constant access to the US dollar.

“We realized this before anyone else. People want to hold these dollars not in cash, but digitally, because it’s much more convenient. […] There’s no point in competing in the US or Europe. We must focus on the places where they are needed the most,” he explained.

At the time of writing, USDT’s market capitalization stands at nearly $120 billion, significantly exceeding the closest competitor USDC ($35 billion), according to CoinGecko.

Earlier, Tether reported that it had assisted 145 law enforcement agencies in 40 jurisdictions to recover over $108.8 million in USDT since its launch in 2014.

Back in September, the consumer rights group Consumers’ Research accused Tether of lacking transparency regarding its US dollar reserves and compared the company to the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.