In 2024, Tether generated $14 billion in profits from just 150 employees, which equates to $93 million contributed by each employee. This staggering efficiency has led many to believe that Tether may be the most operationally efficient company in the world.
So how did the stablecoin company achieve this feat?
Tether generated $14 billion in profits last year, surpassing Pfizer, Tesla, and BlackRock. And it did so without advertising or a large staff, but with a product that people probably don’t pay much attention to – the stablecoin USDT.
Today, USDT is the most widely used stablecoin in the world, with $147 billion in circulation, far ahead of other stablecoins. Not only that, but Tether has also embarked on ambitious explorations in areas such as artificial intelligence, private communications, and neurotechnology.
Whenever someone buys USDT, Tether uses the cash it receives to generate revenue, which is primarily invested in U.S. Treasuries.
In 2024, Tether became the seventh-largest buyer of U.S. Treasuries, surpassing even countries like Canada, Taiwan, and Norway. And its growth is still accelerating: last year, USDT’s total issuance reached $45 billion, up 57% year-over-year, and in the first quarter of 2025, USDT’s users grew by 13%.
While Tether has a reputation for keeping a low profile, the company is now beginning to share more of its vision for the future as the U.S. regulatory environment shifts in its favor.
Stablecoins are essentially digital dollars issued on a blockchain basis and pegged to the U.S. dollar on a 1:1 basis. They provide the world with efficient access to dollars, both as a means of savings and to significantly improve the efficiency of financial flows, especially in cross-border payments.
The second most popular stablecoin is Circle’s USDC, with $62 billion in circulation, less than half that of USDT. USDC is more focused on payment compliance and institutional adoption. Unlike USDT, which dominates the international market where access to dollars is limited, USDC – which was originally co-launched by Coinbase and Circle – is more popular in the U.S. market.
Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, is a 40-year-old Italian computer scientist who describes himself as a “simple guy” who doesn’t care about competitors.
In an interview with Forbes earlier this month, he said, “They don’t represent a real use case for stablecoins.”
In his view, the core value of stablecoins is to provide people in economically unstable countries with a reliable and practically usable currency. Individuals in countries such as Argentina, Turkey and Nigeria, for example. These regions are in desperate need of access to dollars as savings have become nearly impossible due to the rapid devaluation of their local currencies.
While USDT’s main usage scenario is still focused on emerging markets, Paul is also exploring the launch of a homegrown stablecoin specifically for U.S. institutions.
“How ‘interesting’ would that be for our competitors?” He teased in the Forbes interview.
A special feature of Tether’s business is its partnership with legendary American financial institution Cantor Fitzgerald. Cantor became Tether’s banking partner a few years ago, when no other US company would touch it. At the time, Tether was in the midst of a controversy over the fact that some of the reserves behind USDT included Chinese corporate bonds.
Despite the controversy, Cantor took a chance on Tether. Most recently, Cantor bought a 5 percent stake in Tether for $600 million, a valuation that is obviously at a significant discount. The move may have been made in part to thank Cantor for its early support. It’s worth noting that Cantor’s former chairman and CEO, Howard Lutnick, is currently the Trump administration’s secretary of commerce.
At a recent Bitcoin conference, Lutnick responded to criticism of Tether by saying, “They say Tether is owned by the Chinese. It’s actually owned by Giancarlo, who is Italian, and there’s a difference.”
(Note: Giancarlo is Tether’s chief financial officer and owns about 47 percent of Tether. (Source: Forbes)
What’s the reason behind the close relationship between Tether and Cantor, and this favorable deal? –The secret lies in Cantor’s special status: it’s one of only 24 primary dealers in the U.S. that can deal directly with the Federal Reserve.
In practical terms, this means that if a large number of users try to convert USDT to US dollars, Tether can fulfill the demand immediately. Because as a primary dealer, Cantor helps the Fed maintain liquidity in the government bond market, it gives Cantor direct access to the Fed. When Tether needs cash, Cantor can sell U.S. Treasuries directly to the Fed without delay or the need for a middleman.
In other words, Tether gains instant access to dollars through the world’s safest and most liquid asset. This “firepower” is unmatched by any other stablecoin issuer.
Tether’s strong position is no accident: in 2022, Tether was attacked by Sam Bankman-Fried and his company FTX. By accumulating billions of dollars of USDT and selling it off in just two days, they attempted to trigger a crisis similar to a bank run. In the end, Tether managed to cope with a redemption demand of up to $7 billion – equivalent to 10 percent of the volume in circulation at the time.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino noted on a recent episode of Odd Lots that a 10% run in 48 hours is enough to put most financial institutions out of business, but Tether was “unscathed.
In a sense, Tether is also resistant to fluctuations in U.S. Treasury rates: typically, when interest rates fall, economic activity increases, which drives up Tether’s deposits and USDT liquidity (even though yields may be lower, more money still generates a significant return). When interest rates rise, Tether is able to directly boost profits through higher reserve yields.
While the two may not exactly cancel out, this structural dynamic is an advantage for Tether.
Tether’s critics often accuse the company of never having been formally audited and speculate that USDT could be used for crime and money laundering. In response, Paul usually cites examples of how illicit funds can often flow undetected through banks, credit card networks, and payment processors, only to be flagged and frozen when it enters the Tether system, which to date has assisted in more than 400 law enforcement operations in the U.S., and has worked with 230 agencies from 50 countries.
Paul also argues that in regions such as South America and Africa, Tether is effectively the last line of defense in the dollarization process. In these regions, “the U.S. is almost invisible,” he mentioned on Odd Lots, “except for McDonald’s.”
“In these places, hospitals, schools, libraries and airports are being built by China,” Paul said. He also mentioned that China is pushing for a digital currency backed by gold to pay all employees of these infrastructure projects. This initiative, if successful, would threaten the U.S. dollar’s status as a reserve currency and ultimately diminish the U.S.’s global political influence.
In villages in Africa, Tether is building a small site with solar panels for people to rent batteries for 3 USDT per month. In these areas, electricity is extremely scarce, with 600 million people without access to a reliable supply. Considering that the average monthly salary in these villages is around $80, this 3 USDT subscription is a great deal for local residents. A similar initiative is taking place in South America, where small stores have begun accepting USDT payments. These channels not only serve as grassroots distribution mechanisms for USDT (which is good for Tether’s business growth), but they also inadvertently boost the global reach of the US dollar (good news for the US government).
Tether’s ambitions are not limited to the stablecoin business. The company has also invested in artificial intelligence data centers, such as Northern Data, which has 24,000 GPUs. in addition, Tether is developing a peer-to-peer (P2P) chat application called Keet.
Historically, the main problem with peer-to-peer apps has been a poor user experience, which Tether is trying to address. “We’re looking for a solution to the UX problem and ultimately want to achieve the same user experience as WhatsApp – but completely P2P,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino via Zoom conference. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said via the Zoom conference. The Keet-enabled Holepunch protocol is actually a broadly applicable peer-to-peer standard that can be used to build a wide range of decentralized systems.
“What if we could suddenly build a range of applications – from social media, to messaging, to enterprise applications – that not only reduced infrastructure costs by 97 percent, but also enhanced privacy and ensured that data belonged to its true users?”
In addition, Tether has developed a platform called Hadron for tokenizing assets; launched a self-hosted open source wallet; and invested in a brain-computer interface company.
In terms of employee numbers, the Tether team is small – just 150 people – but loyal. “When we were going through our toughest times, not a single person on my team left,” Paul mentioned at a Cantor crypto conference.
He partly credits this to the fact that Tether had hired mainly talent from emerging markets. “They know what’s important …… They want to work for us because they see that we’re actually trying to solve the real problems that they’re facing, not the problems that the rich world thinks they have,” Paul explained.
According to Paul, Tether is a once-in-a-century company because it has been able to “separate the need to build superior technology from the need to make a profit”. In other words, the company can focus on innovation (not limited to USDT) without worrying about short-term profitability pressures. Thanks to the lucrative revenues generated by USDT, Tether can afford to develop “the craziest technologies” without being in a hurry to profit from them.
“We’re using the technology we’ve developed as a distribution layer to support our ‘golden goose’ – USDT – and I don’t think anyone else can do that. ” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in an interview.
“The more our technology empowers users, the more successful our core product will be. This is very different from traditional tech companies – which often need to trap users in cages in order to sell more products.”
One of the most comforting parts of Tether’s story is that its leadership has never lost sight of the original intent of cryptocurrency. “Institutions will betray you for a basis point (0.01%),” Paul mentioned on the Odd Lots program. This attitude, once the consensus of the entire crypto community during the industry’s infancy, is now being gradually forgotten. Shifting power back to the individual from exploitative institutions is exactly what cryptocurrencies were born for in the first place.
Interestingly, one of the richest and most influential people in crypto today remains true to these original principles, while those who turn their backs on their beginnings in the pursuit of money often end up failing or even going to jail. It’s also rare that a company that makes so much money can help its user base in such a tangible way: people in emerging markets who would otherwise have no access to stable currencies. And it all stems from Paul’s sincere belief that “I want Tether to be seen as ……’s positive contribution to the world.”
Speaking about his vision for Tether, Paul said, “The last 20 years have been great for the Western world, but I don’t think the next 10 to 15 years will be as stable for the Western world. We are a stablecoin company …… but perhaps we are more of a ‘stability company’. Our technology is designed to bring stability to society, and that stability can start with cryptocurrency.”
