The issuer of USDT, Tether— will allocate over $1 billion for distribution to startups from "hundreds of venture proposals." Paolo Ardoino told about this in an interview with Bloomberg CEO.
According to the top manager, the firm is focused on alternative financial infrastructure for emerging markets, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. Over the past two years, Tether has already invested about $2 billion in these areas.
"Our policy is to support only those projects that we consider extremely interesting," commented Ardoino.
According to him, Tether is not looking for companies that should achieve certain profitability indicators in the next one to two years. This distinguishes it from classic venture funds.
Tether invests most of its USDT-backed reserves in U.S. Treasury bills and other securities, generating billions of dollars in profits in the face of current high rates.
In the first quarter of 2024, the company's net profit amounted to $4.2 billion. The issuer received about $1 billion from operating profit mainly as interest income from the obligations of the US Treasury. The rest of the net profit (~$3.5 billion) is due to the increase in the value of positions in bitcoin ($3.65 billion) and gold ($5.7 billion).
According to Ardoino, the company plans to continue to maintain 100% of its reserves, as well as an additional "cushion" of 6% of profits, in order to ensure smooth repayment of USDT. The rest should be sent to transactions.
To expand its distribution network, Tether is investing in infrastructure in emerging markets. In addition, the USDT issuer has already invested more than $1 billion in artificial intelligence, in particular by supporting the data center operator Northern Data Group.
CEO Tether recalled plans to launch a platform at the end of this year on which companies will be able to issue bonds and shares in the form of digital tokens, and central banks will be able to offer CBDC.
Recall that in April, Tether announced the reorganization of the structure into four divisions in order to enter other areas besides "stablecoins".