LUGANO, Switzerland — Tether, the crypto company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, USDT plans new investments to bring its U.S.-focused U.S. dollar stablecoin to a U.S. user base of 100 million, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in an interview on Friday.
The USAT token, designed specifically for the U.S. market to comply with federal regulations set by GENIUS Act requirements, is expected to launch in December, Ardoino said. It is issued by Tether America, a joint venture between Tether and regulated American crypto bank Anchorage Digital.
A key element for Tether to distribute the next token is Rumble (RUM), the video sharing platform in which Tether invested $775 million last year, and its upcoming crypto wallet, which will also be released later this year. Rumble alone has 51 million active monthly users in the United States who can potentially sign up for USAT tokens, Ardoino said.
“We are investing in two or three companies, which would take that figure from 51 million to 100 million,” he said.
Without naming specific companies, he said investment targets could include social media companies and content platforms similar to Rumble, as Tether aims to position its USAT token for payments in the creator economy.
“For the US market, you need to create a more professional, digital approach to money that can compete with PayPal, etc.,” he said. “The beauty is that we already have a user base that would use this money in the economy. […] so the offer will be unbeatable.
“We’re going to get out there and we’re going to start taking market share away from our competitors who tried to kill us in the first place,” Ardoino said.
Read more: Tether Unveils USAT Stablecoin for US Market, Appoints Bo Hines to Head New Division
Gold rush
Tether, although primarily focused on emerging markets where access to the dollar is limited, has benefited from the rapid adoption of the stablecoin, in part bolstered by regulatory advances such as the GENIUS Act in the United States, which allows digital tokens to be further integrated into global payments. The company’s flagship token, USDT, reached a supply of $182 billion, increasing by a third since the start of the year and dominating the roughly $300 billion asset class. Circle Token (CRCL) is currently second with $72 billion, about 70% growth this year.
Meanwhile, the company’s other token, gold-backed physical has also surged in recent months as the yellow metal reached new all-time highs. XAUT’s market size has reached an all-time high of $2.2 billion, more than tripling since the start of the year.
Much of this growth comes from retail demand, Ardoino said.
“We are seeing retailers in Central America, South America and Asia starting to show interest in tokenized gold,” he said. Due to the gold retail frenzy, market makers are also increasingly resorting to tokenized gold, as they can sell it on secondary markets for a wider spread with CME futures on the other side of the market.
Nasdaq-listed Prestige Wealth recently raised $150 million, anchored in Bitcoin. lender Antalpha, to hoard Tether’s token gold, also increasing demand.
Read more: Tether Unveils Synthetic AI Dataset to Democratize STEM Intelligence
