“We were under a severe pressure from competitors that wanted to create a monopolistic environment in the United States,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino on stage. “The big mistake there was simply to discount the fact that we think Tether is the best product in the market.”
Formally shunned by top politicians, Tether hosted a who’s who from Congress and crypto at its Friday event. U.S. representatives like Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and Addison McDowell (R-N.C.) were present, along with top crypto venture capitalists like Paradigm managing partner Matt Huang and Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani.
Its decision to launch a U.S.-compliant stablecoin comes after Congress passed the Genius Act in July, which paved the way for new challengers, from banks to a crop of new startups, to launch their own tokens. For Tether, which is largely used outside the U.S., the move raises questions as to the utility of its new U.S. offering and what type of traction it will achieve.
Tether’s main advantage is its massive moat, with the next largest stablecoin, Circle’s USDC, significantly trailing with a market cap of just $72 billion. But with the Genius Act’s establishment of a sanctioned path forward for traditional financial institutions to enter the market, potential users will have a wealth of options from which to choose. Some offerings are beginning to experiment with passing yield back to their users, though Genius prohibits issuers like Tether from sharing its interest earnings with customers.
On Tether’s newly launched website for its U.S. stablecoin USAT, the company said that the main use cases would be for remittances, global payments, and online checkouts. The company plans to launch its U.S. stablecoin by the end of the year, said Hines, who plans to establish the headquarters of USAT in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We want to dominate,” he said, “but we want to do that in the U.S.”
Update, Sept. 12, 2025: Added in more details from the Tether event on Friday.
