Tether is doubling down on its strategic expansion beyond stablecoins, with CEO Paolo Ardoino announcing plans for the company to become the largest Bitcoin miner by the end of the year while also predicting a future where trillions of AI agents will use USDT and Bitcoin for machine-to-machine transactions. Ardoino outlined Tether’s investments in mining, artificial intelligence, and self-custodial tools as part of a broader push to position the firm at the heart of an increasingly automated, blockchain-driven digital economy. Tether CEO Says Company Could Become World's Largest Bitcoin Miner by Year-End Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed in a recent podcast episode that the stablecoin giant could emerge as the world’s largest bitcoin miner by the end of 2025. The claim signals the company’s accelerating pivot beyond digital currency issuance into deep infrastructure investment — a strategy Ardoino says is designed not for profit alone, but for the security of the Bitcoin network itself. Tether, known globally for issuing the USDT stablecoin, is operated by a relatively small team of under 200 people. Yet, the company reported a staggering $13 billion in profits during 2024, primarily from its massive holdings in US Treasuries, Bitcoin, and other reserve assets. That war chest has given Tether ample financial firepower to pursue an aggressive expansion strategy. In recent years, Tether has diversified across multiple sectors, ranging from artificial intelligence and telecommunications to data centers and energy infrastructure. But perhaps the most significant and ambitious move has been into the world of bitcoin mining — a sector typically dominated by long-established industrial firms. While the profits of mining companies have drawn many players into the industry, Ardoino made it clear that Tether's ambitions are rooted in strategic alignment, not pure ROI. Tether currently holds more than 100,000 BTC, valued at over $10 billion at current prices. “I think that is clear that if you have $1 million and you have to decide where to put it — either in bitcoin mining or in buying bitcoin directly — you would always make more money buying bitcoin directly,” Ardoino explained. “But in our case, I think given the exposure that we have to bitcoin, it's important to be part of the security of the network.” In Ardoino’s view, bitcoin mining is not just a business but a responsibility — a way to directly protect and support the network on which the company’s core assets depend. “Realistically, by the end of this year, Tether will become the biggest bitcoin miner out there,” he declared. $2 Billion Invested Across Latin America While exact figures for Tether’s current hashrate remain undisclosed, the company’s footprint has grown rapidly. Since 2023, Tether has invested more than $2 billion in energy and mining infrastructure across 15 sites in Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador. This includes the development of renewable energy projects, construction of substations, and minority stakes in already-operational mining farms. The initial $500 million investment in late 2023 marked the beginning of a long-term strategy. Ardoino indicated that the expansion is ongoing, with additional capital earmarked for future development. The locations Tether has chosen are known for having abundant hydropower and favorable regulatory environments — two critical factors for sustainable mining growth. To put Ardoino’s claim in perspective, the top bitcoin mining firms by current hashrate include Marathon Digital (MARA) at 57.3 EH/s, CleanSpark at 50 EH/s, Iris Energy (IREN) at 38.4 EH/s, Riot Platforms at 33.7 EH/s, and Core Scientific at 19.1 EH/s. Bitcoin’s total network hashrate is currently estimated at 810 EH/s. Surpassing those firms would require Tether to operate or control tens of exahashes per second (EH/s) in computing power. While this target is ambitious, Tether’s substantial capital and rapid infrastructure buildout make the goal not entirely implausible — especially if acquisitions or strategic partnerships are involved. Yet, the lack of transparency regarding Tether’s exact mining hashrate metrics raises some skepticism. Without public disclosures, observers can only estimate the company’s current position within the broader mining ecosystem. An Emerging Energy Giant? Ardoino’s comments also reinforce Tether’s long-term ambition to become more than a stablecoin issuer. By embedding itself into the physical infrastructure layers of society — energy, data, and intelligence — Tether seems to be positioning itself as a backbone for the decentralized digital economy. With a CEO focused on Bitcoin’s longevity, a multi-billion-dollar budget, and an expansive view of technological sovereignty, Tether’s mining play is not just about hashing power. It’s a philosophical statement about decentralization, resilience, and the future of money. Whether the company can truly claim the crown of the world’s largest bitcoin miner by year’s end remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: Tether is no longer just a fintech firm. It is rapidly becoming an industrial force in the age of digital infrastructure. Tether’s Paolo Ardoino Sees Trillion-Bot Economy, with USDT and Bitcoin as the Native Money In Ardoino’s view of the not-so-distant future, billions of autonomous software bots will negotiate, pay, and settle with one another every second—without a human in sight. And when they do, the Tether CEO expects two assets to power that machine-to-machine (M2M) economy: USDT and Bitcoin. Ardoino made perhaps his most ambitious prediction yet during the podcast appearance: “We are going to have one trillion AI agents in 15 years, and each one will need a self-custodial wallet.” In such a world, he argued, traditional banks will be ill-equipped—or simply unwilling—to treat autonomous bots as customers. Stablecoins and permissionless crypto networks, by contrast, can provide immediate, always-on settlement rails. AI agents—autonomous pieces of software able to interact with other machines, APIs, and blockchains—are already taking on narrow tasks such as negotiating bandwidth prices, allocating cloud resources, or rebalancing liquidity pools. Their numbers remain tiny today, but Ardoino foresees exponential growth as large-language models mature and on-chain identities become cheaper and faster to spin up. “I don’t think JPMorgan will open a bank account for any AI agent,” he told the podcast host, adding that self-custody is the only workable model for non-human economic actors. “That’s why USDT and Bitcoin make the most sense—they’re the assets traders already use every day, and they’re trust-minimized.” Data backs up Ardoino’s confidence. A US Treasury study last year found that the majority of crypto volume is routed through stablecoin pairs, and more than half of the $243 billion stablecoin float is USDT. On centralized exchanges, USDT remains the deepest quote currency, especially for emerging-market traders who lack access to US dollars. Tether’s edge, Ardoino argued, lies in a blend of liquidity and tooling: Wallet Development Kit (WDK):Launched in November 2024, the open-source WDK lets any developer embed non-custodial wallets in apps—or in AI agents—within minutes. Ubiquity Across Chains:USDT circulates on more than a dozen blockchains , providing instant bridges between high-throughput environments like Solana and security-focused networks like Bitcoin via Omni. Battle-Tested Liquidity Reserves:With a circulating supply above $155 billion, USDT offers order-book depth that few competitors can match. Regulatory Tailwinds—or Headwinds? Ardoino’s prediction lands as US lawmakers debate two headline stablecoin bills: the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act in the House and the GENIUS Act in the Senate. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently told lawmakers that clear rules could propel stablecoin capitalization past $2 trillion by 2028. For Tether, regulatory clarity could cement USDT’s role as the de facto lubricant for M2M trade. But stricter reserve-disclosure demands—or outright caps on algorithmic issuance—could also tighten the operating window for all stablecoin issuers. Tether’s push into artificial intelligence began in earnest last year: April 2024 – Tether Data:A research arm focused on open-source AI models, emphasizing transparency and auditability—traits Ardoino says are “non-negotiable in finance-grade software.” May 2024 – Tether AI:Announced as a peer-to-peer network that will “enable an unstoppable mesh of AI agents,” Tether AI aims to provide inference marketplaces where bots can buy and sell compute and data using—naturally—USDT and Bitcoin. The company’s new headquarters in El Salvador gives it a regulatory sandbox and proximity to the geothermal power that now fuels some of its Bitcoin-mining experiments. Reaching Ardoino’s trillion-agent milestone will test the limits of today’s crypto stack: Throughput & FinalityEven the fastest L1s handle only a few thousand transactions per second. Tether’s answer is multi-chain USDT issuance paired with Bitcoin’s Lightning Network for rapid settlement. Key ManagementSelf-custody at machine scale demands robust, automated key-rotation schemes. Tether’s WDK supports hardware-based enclaves and threshold signatures to minimize single points of failure. On-Chain IdentityAI agents will need verifiable credentials to avoid Sybil attacks. Here, Ardoino notes, Soul-Bound Tokens and zero-knowledge proofs may play starring roles.