Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has said he expects the company’s flagship stablecoin USDT to become unnecessary within 50 years, arguing that Bitcoin will emerge as the world’s dominant currency.
Speaking in a recent episode of the “Simply Bitcoin IRL” podcast, Ardoino described USDT as “just a representation of the US dollar” that helps move money with less friction, but said that in his view “the ultimate best form of currency” humanity will have is Bitcoin. He added that he “fails to understand how Bitcoin will not be the most used currency in the world” and sees it as a future global system of checks and balances.
Stablecoins as a bridge to Bitcoin
Ardoino framed stablecoins as a transitional tool for users who either cannot access dollars via banks or do not yet understand Bitcoin. He pointed to countries such as Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela, where local currencies have suffered steep devaluations and where USDT is often used as a digital dollar substitute and even as a de facto bank account.
According to Ardoino, Tether now serves around 500 million users and manages roughly 183 billion dollars of USDT, with much of the growth driven by emerging markets and by the COVID-19 period, when citizens could not easily access physical dollars. In his account, young people who had learned about crypto between 2017 and 2020 onboarded their parents into stablecoins during lockdowns, accelerating USDT adoption.
To bridge the gap between fiat money and Bitcoin, Ardoino highlighted Tether Gold, a token backed by physical gold. He argued that many users in the West are more familiar with gold than with Bitcoin, and may first move from bank deposits to gold-backed tokens before ultimately adopting BTC as a long-term store of value.
Tether’s balance sheet increasingly reflects this strategy. The company has been allocating a share of its profits into Bitcoin since 2023 and in the first quarter of 2025 bought 8,888 BTC, lifting its holdings to more than 90,000 coins, according to blockchain analytics cited by multiple market reports.
Washington, the GENIUS Act and a pro-Bitcoin stance
In the interview, Ardoino also detailed his recent lobbying push in Washington, saying he spent two months in the U.S. capital explaining Tether, stablecoins and Bitcoin to lawmakers and regulators. That effort culminated in his appearance at the White House in July, when President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, the first comprehensive federal framework for payment stablecoins.
The law requires U.S. payment stablecoins to be fully backed by cash and high-quality liquid assets, such as Treasury bills, and mandates regular disclosures, a structure that has been welcomed by large issuers including Tether and Circle. Supporters argue it cements the dollar’s role at the heart of the crypto economy and could expand stablecoin use far beyond trading into everyday payments and remittances.
For Ardoino, however, the long-term endpoint is still Bitcoin. He stressed that Tether is “a Bitcoiner company” and said the firm now buys BTC and gold whenever it earns interest income on its substantial U.S. Treasury portfolio. External estimates suggest Tether holds tens of billions of dollars in short-term Treasuries, making it one of the largest non-sovereign buyers of U.S. government debt.
What it means for Europe and the digital euro
Ardoino’s comments underline a tension that European policymakers are already grappling with, as the euro area seeks to contain the influence of dollar-based stablecoins while developing its own central bank digital currency. The European Central Bank has repeatedly warned that widespread use of U.S. dollar stablecoins in the euro area could “dollarise” payments and erode monetary sovereignty, a concern that forms part of the rationale for the digital euro project.
Digital Euro News has previously reported how the ECB sees the digital euro as a public alternative to private crypto assets and dollar stablecoins, and how it is moving from design work to legislative coordination ahead of potential pilots later this decade. At the same time, European regulators at events such as the Singapore FinTech Festival have been stressing the need to balance innovation in tokenised money with financial stability and consumer protection.
If Tether’s CEO is correct that stablecoins are ultimately an “on-ramp” to Bitcoin, the long-term competitive landscape in digital money may look very different to today, with CBDCs, private tokens and a non-sovereign asset all vying for user trust. For now, USDT remains deeply embedded in crypto markets and in many emerging-market economies, even as its own issuer publicly predicts a future where it is no longer needed.