Tether CEO: USDT has "trillion dollar market" potential in commodity trading and AI

Welcome back to Talking Tokens.

This week I’m writing this newsletter from Korea Blockchain Week.

As many of my readers probably already know, the Korean and broader Asian crypto market is buzzing. There’s excitement, adoption and lots of developments happening over here. As a native New Yorker and American, I’m diving into this region to learn more — and help you all learn more, too.

I’ll be sharing updates with you all as we receive the footage from fireside chats and panels I’ve moderated, including ones with CEOs and executives from Binance, Ripple and Aptos in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

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USDT market cap is up 11,700% YTD — and Tether’s CEO sees even room for more growth

Tether, the team behind the USDT stablecoin, has seen extreme growth this year as USDT’s market cap increased from $1 billion at the beginning of 2024, up to over $118 billion, at the time of writing.

But what’s next for the business — and stablecoins more specifically?

There’s a lot of use cases coming in the pipeline, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether and CTO at Bitfinex, said on the Talking Tokens podcast.

“I think what will happen is commodity trading will explode on stablecoins,” Ardoino said. “Purchasing cotton or raw materials is becoming increasingly more difficult and I think that will move soon to stablecoins.”

(Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube)

“Imagine you’re buying a lot of cotton, with stablecoins you can see onchain if the buyer has the money to pay you,” Ardoino said. This then could open the door for more money to flow in-and-out of the industry.

“That market is a trillion dollar market very, very easily,” he added.

There’s also potential for AI agents to start using USDT, Ardoino predicts. “I think in 10 years there will be 10 times more transactions by AI agents than humans.”

As AI becomes more refined and keeps growing, it will improve itself and complete payments autonomously, Ardoino said. “We will see that market exploding as well and I think stablecoins just make sense. They will not use dogecoin, they will use stablecoins for payments.”

Check out the next section for more details and the full episode.

The latest Talking Tokens podcast 🎙️

For this week’s Tuesday episode, I interviewed Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether and CTO at Bitfinex.

We talk about USDT’s explosive growth YTD, Tether and Bitfinex’s growth over the years, stablecoins use cases for retail and institutional users, demand for stablecoins backed by other non-USD currencies and more.

Talking Tokens episodes are released on Spotify and Apple Podcasts at 6AM EST or YouTube at 10AM EST every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen in!

Make sure to subscribe to keep up with the latest episodes. Feel free to leave a review and tell us your thoughts.

Monitoring blockchains

Looking at some of the biggest developments onchain.

• Cardano’s Chang Hard Fork went live, shifting the chain further toward decentralization as its ADA token transitions into a governance token

• Tokenization firm Libre is now live on the NEAR protocol, bringing users access to its Hamilton Lane credit fund, the Brevan Howard Master Fund and Blackrock ICS Money Market Fund

• Kaia, a layer-1 blockchain that merged two chains developed by South Korean and Japanese messaging platforms Kakao and LINE, launched its mainnet last Thursday

Taking on the tokens 

The total crypto market cap increased 2.5% in the past day to $2.07 trillion. It is down 6.33% over a 7-day period.

As for the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap…

These metrics were taken prior to publication Tuesday morning EST.

Money and people moves

Latest updates on crypto startups that secured funding and industry players who are starting something new and more.

1. Crypto Firm OKX Hires Former Grab Exec to Be Singapore CEO (Bloomberg)

2. Dolomite co-founder Corey Caplan takes advisor role at Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (The Block)

3. Maria Magenes joins “onchain super agency” Hype as VP of strategy

4. Ella Qiang shared she joined Berachain’s APAC ecosystem team

Talking points for the road 

Here’s some headlines and topics that you can talk about at your next dinner party, crypto event or on a first date to look smart (results may vary.) 

1. Where Ethereum’s price is headed next after worst month in over two years (DL News)

2. Pump.fun surpasses $100 million in revenue as Polymarket outshines NFTs in August (The Block)

3. Coinbase and Square vets aim to level up stablecoins with Bridge and $58 million in funding (Fortune)

4. Monthly DeFi protocol fees dropped 24% in August (The Block)

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Please note that this content is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.