Tether, the controversial issuer of the world's largest stablecoin, has a vision for a blockchain-powered payment network in the U.S. — and the financial heft to see it through, CEO Paolo Ardoino tells Axios in an interview.
Why it matters: With
legislation on the horizon, a major
IPO in the works from rival Circle and an ever-growing list of new competitors positioning for a piece of the market, the industry's giant looks unlikely to sit out the
coming race for stablecoin supremacyin the United States.
The big picture: Other issuers, Ardoino expects, will chase U.S. institutional customers who use stablecoins for things like crypto trading and decentralized finance, or DeFi.
- But Ardoino sees a better opportunity in the U.S. consumer market.
- Tether is likely to set up a new company in the U.S. and create a new payment token specifically for the country, he says.
- Its existing token, USDT, the largest stablecoin in the world, will continue to serve the international market and the developing world.
What they're saying: "Here's the big difference: In the U.S., people would use a stablecoin as their checking account, while, outside the U.S., people use USDT as their savings," Ardoino said.
Friction point: Stablecoins might really be a cheaper way to do payments, but the problem is most people don't have stablecoins. They have dollars inside banks.
- To make stablecoins work as day-to-day payments, Tether would have to solve that problem: getting people to hold stablecoins in digital wallets, ready to use for purchases.
- And then merchants, the places where people would make those purchases, would also need to be able to accept them.
The intrigue: Ardoino was reluctant to cite any specific plans for places where people in the U.S. could spend its new stablecoin, other than its acquisition of censorship-free YouTube competitor,
Rumble.
- But when asked by Axios point blank whether Tether would consider building a point-of-sale merchant services offering, similar to Square but including stablecoins, Ardoino said:
- "I cannot spoil all our strategy, but you are on the right track."
