Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino denies plans to build blockchain

Paolo Ardoino wants to make one thing very clear: Tether is not building a blockchain. Not now, not later, not ever, apparently.

The Tether CEO issued an emphatic denial on August 15 after a CoinMarketCap report the previous day lumped his company in with a group of firms allegedly raising over $1 billion to build dedicated dollar-focused blockchains. The report named Stripe and Circle alongside Tether as participants in what it called a “stablechain” push.

What actually happened

Ardoino stated plainly that Tether is “NOT building any blockchain,” drawing a sharp line between investing in projects and actually constructing proprietary infrastructure.

Tether reportedly backs two competing blockchain projects, Plasma and Stable. Ardoino framed these relationships as financial support and collaboration, not evidence of Tether building its own chain.

His broader point was about Tether’s identity as a company. The firm describes itself as “agnostic” when it comes to transport layers, meaning it will operate across multiple existing blockchain networks for distributing USDT rather than locking itself into a single proprietary network.

Why Tether stays multi-chain

USDT currently operates across major public blockchains including Ethereum and Tron. That multi-chain presence is arguably its greatest competitive advantage.

Building a proprietary blockchain would flip that dynamic entirely. Suddenly Tether would need to attract validators, court developers, build tooling, and convince an already fragmented market to adopt yet another network, all while maintaining the very multi-chain presence that makes USDT useful in the first place.

The stablechain thesis and its skeptics

Circle, which issues USDC, has been more openly exploring infrastructure plays. Stripe’s interest in stablecoins has been well-documented. The logic for these companies is straightforward: if stablecoins are going to process trillions in value, the infrastructure should be purpose-built rather than borrowed.

Tether, by remaining agnostic, can deploy USDT on whatever new network gains traction, keeping it from becoming captive to any single ecosystem’s success.

Ardoino has led Tether as CEO since December 2023 while simultaneously serving as CTO at Bitfinex. For Tether, a company whose product depends on trust and predictability, letting the blockchain-building narrative go unchecked could have introduced exactly the kind of strategic ambiguity it wants to avoid.

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