I'd be lying if I didn't say we want to dominate. I think that entering the US market, we feel as if, again, we're uniquely positioned to be the stalwart in space. And that's what attracted me to Tether. You know, I wanted to go somewhere I could build, have fun, and obviously work with the most intelligent and brightest people. And I feel like I found a home here at Tether to do that.
All right. I'm very excited to have this conversation. We have Paolo Ardoino from Tether. We have Bo Hines who recently was at the administration at the White House and now is with Tether as well as a strategic adviser. Welcome both of you to CoinDesk. So, Bo, what made you decide to return to the private sector with less than a year in the White House?
First and foremost, I want to thank the President for his trust and his leadership in this space along with David Sacks who has been the guiding star for our AI and crypto initiatives that we've taken on in the first eight months. You know, truly, we walked into this with one objective: to position the US to be the crypto capital of the world. I felt as if we had achieved that, given the digital assets working group report that we had released, alongside of the Genius Act being signed into law—obviously the most monumental piece of crypto legislation and I would argue probably one of the most consequential pieces of legislation that the President will sign in either of his two terms. The long-lasting impact this has on the global financial system and our capital markets here at home cannot be understated. And obviously, given that, I felt like it was the right time to step away and continue this work from the private sector. I feel as if we can have an enormous impact, especially given the fact that I strongly believe—and I shouldn't even say believe, I know—that Tether is the most uniquely positioned company in the world to integrate these technologies into the US financial system and really help us propel things forward. We need an update. We've had payment rails that have been archaic for quite some time. And so now we're looking at a world in which we have instant settlement times, more expeditious transactions, more cost-effective transactions. And it'll be fascinating to see the world in which these different players compete to embed that infrastructure into our system. But I think that is on the horizon, and I really wanted to be a part of it.
I love that. Paolo, I think when we had you on Spotlight a number of months ago, you talked about those rails and how the crypto rails really around the world were so challenged, and you really saw that as an opportunity with the US. At the time, you said this wasn't your core focus. But then I think about that amazing photo of you stepping into Washington after the administration, and what felt like a really proud moment of this starting to come around. So, I'm just wondering, how did this come together? When did you guys first start talking? What was sort of the genesis of you saying, hey, Bo should be a part of our team?
Well, definitely in the last months we have been engaging with US lawmakers, regulators, and the administration quite a lot, because Tether, as the creator of the stablecoin technology since 2014, I think we were best positioned to explain how and why this technology was and is very important for the United States. I keep repeating myself—I'm Italian and I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and I always saw the United States positioned as the best country when it comes to innovation. And I felt that in the last four years something changed and the US dropped the ball on digital assets and stablecoins, missing huge opportunities—Operation Choke Point 2.0 and other types of attacks from the SEC and all that to the entire industry. And now with the change in the administration, we felt that was the right opportunity to try to come first of all to the United States and explain what we were doing as one of the best allies to the United States. Tether brings the US dollar to more than 450 million people around the world. We work in all the emerging markets, developing countries, with boots on the ground. USDT, our stablecoin, is considered a lifeline for hundreds of millions of people. And so bringing this expertise to the United States, when on top of that we are among the largest holders of US debt, I think has been fundamental for the US side to understand who we are, but also from our side to explore further opportunities that we were not looking at before. When you have such ambitious goals, you have to work with the best people. You have to find people that are aligned with your philosophy and ethos. Tether is a lean company. We have lean teams. We are simple people. But we have a big heart. We have big ambition to try to change things in the world. If in 2014 I would have gone around saying in 10 years we would have more volume than Visa, probably people would have put me in some sort of institution, all wrapped up. And now we demonstrated we were able to do so. But growing from here to 10x, there is so much to build, so much to do, and I think the US market is pivotal because the US has the biggest portion of remittance sources around the world. The corridors that start from the US to Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, Philippines are huge. And so we think that even our presence in those emerging markets and our ability now to bring our technology into the United States, we can also position ourselves as the leaders in the US. Not only that, we are looking at expanding on other verticals in the United States. We invested more than $4 billion in the last three years in the United States in different technologies. And I think personally that Bo, given what he demonstrated and what he was able to achieve within the administration in a very complex situation—because these digital assets are very important for many stakeholders in the industry—he was able to manage all of that, demonstrate great intelligence. And so when I heard that he was stepping down, I decided to offer him a position at Tether.
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Bo, no one can argue the outstanding success Tether has had over the last bunch of years, especially without being in the US market. So, how does it look for Tether to come in? Are you creating a product specifically for the US market? What do you think the competitive edge will be here versus Circle or some of the other established competitors that are in the US right now?
Well, definitely we announced our interest to create a US domestic stablecoin. And we think that while in the US there have been different stablecoins already operating in the US market, I think there is an opportunity for Tether to bring its expertise and its difference into the United States. Again, when I see and hear the strategies of other stablecoin issuers, I feel like they are very Silicon Valley-oriented, they're very corporate-oriented, and they basically keep going after the same segment of people that are already banked. I think Tether is representing a different movement, a movement that puts people first, puts their needs first. And we think that in the United States there is a huge opportunity because there is maybe a smaller percentage of underbanked people, but there is a huge percentage of expats and people that have families all around the world. And we have the best technology to solve their problems and put them on the pedestal and work with them on a daily basis. That's exactly what Bo and I discussed for a few times, and the opportunity is so big that we need someone with his expertise and his strength to lead that effort within the United States.
So Bo, jumping on that—you were instrumental in the creation and the passage of the Genius Act, which is part of how to regulate and legislate stablecoins. Now you're on the other side at a stablecoin issuer. How does it feel to be on the other side, to now have to navigate both the opportunities and the challenges that are going to be within that industry?
Well, look, it feels good. I'm very proud of the work that we put together. I think the product the President signed into law was a fantastic one—not only for the United States of America in creating fair marketplace competition, but also a great product for innovators like us over at Tether. I firmly believe that this is the greatest team that exists in the digital assets ecosystem. Paolo has proven his brilliance over and over again along with the folks that work for him. And I'm just excited for the fact that we get to actually help one, the US being what I would consider their greatest private sector partner, considering that we are the largest purchaser of US treasuries that exists in the private sector world, but moreover, the financial institutions that are looking to integrate this technology into their current system. Paolo's talked about the consumer aspect and the remittances—that'll be obviously extremely important for us. But moreover, I think there again is a race for infrastructure. I think that these institutional players want to engage. I think some of them are a little bit out over their skis in terms of what they're saying compared to what they can practically do. So, we'll look to fill those voids as well. And I think that there's endless opportunity with where we can go on the stable side here. David and I have always envisioned a world in which we have tokenized public securities and 24/7 markets. And if you want to access those capital markets, you're going to have to use a dollar-backed stablecoin. I hope that the product that we put forth becomes the institutional version of that, giving folks the best opportunity to go in and out of different asset classes. It will also provide a pathway for them to engage in remittances to maybe loved ones or friends overseas. There's multiple ways that we can look at this, but again, I think this is the greatest company for the United States that currently exists. And I think it will be on the technological development side as well.
This is for either of you. Where do you predict stablecoins are going to be in a year or two? It seems like a lot of private companies are talking about creating their own. You pioneered the industry earlier than most. Is this a rising tides lifts all boats opportunity, or is this something where there can only be a couple of players to really get this right?
