Written by: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily
As the absolute leader in the stablecoin race, Tether has been very active lately, not only making moves in vertical cryptocurrency fields such as mining, exchanges, and Layer 1/Layer 2 but also actively laying out in industries such as AI, brain-computer interfaces, agriculture, and sports.
Although in the past few years, Tether's business has not been limited to the stablecoin sector, the recent pace of its layout has clearly accelerated. The reason lies in the gradual progress of the (GENIUS Act), as stablecoins are slowly integrating into the mainstream financial market in a compliant manner. However, since Tether and USDT find it difficult to meet the (GENIUS Act) requirements regarding issuer registration, reserve asset types, audit standards, and other aspects, their market position is bound to be impacted in the subsequent compliance process. In this context, Tether seems to have developed some anxiety, and its recent multi-directional acceleration in layout may be Tether's attempt to break the situation.
Challenges faced by Tether under compliance trends
Earlier this month, the highly anticipated stablecoin regulatory bill (i.e., the (GENIUS Act)) was officially passed by the final vote of the senators and submitted to the House of Representatives for review.
The (GENIUS Act) was first proposed in February this year by US Senators Bill Hagerty, Tim Scott, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Cynthia Lummis, aiming to establish a legal framework for the legal use of stablecoin payments in the United States.
The core provisions of the bill are as follows:
Definition of payment stablecoins: digital assets anchored to a fixed currency value, fully supported by US dollars or other highly liquid assets at a 1:1 ratio, specifically used for payment and settlement scenarios.
Dual licensing regulation: federal regulation, issuers with a market capitalization exceeding $10 billion must accept federal regulation; state-level regulation, smaller issuers may choose state registration (must meet federal equivalent standards).
100% reserve requirement: reserve assets limited to cash, short-term US Treasury bonds, or central bank deposits, and must be isolated from operating funds. Proof of sufficient reserves must be submitted monthly to ensure users can redeem at face value.
Mandatory transparency disclosure: regular public disclosure of reserve composition and redemption policies, with compliance audits conducted by registered CPA firms.
Anti-money laundering compliance: issuers are subject to the jurisdiction of the (Bank Secrecy Act) and must fulfill AML obligations at the level of financial institutions.
Priority protection for users: in the event of issuer bankruptcy, stablecoin holders' claims take precedence over other claimants.
Clear delineation of regulatory authority: explicitly states that payment stablecoins do not fall into the categories of securities, commodities, or investment companies, clarifying regulatory boundaries.
In short, as the first federal-level stablecoin legislation, the (GENIUS Act) is generally believed to help stablecoins move out of the wild growth phase and officially integrate into the compliant market. However, at the same time, the (GENIUS Act) also imposes strict compliance requirements on existing stablecoin issuers, among which USDT, registered overseas, with relatively complex reserve assets (partly consisting of Bitcoin and gold), and a long-standing refusal to fully disclose audit results is highly likely to suffer the most severe impact.
In a previous interview with Forbes, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that the company plans to issue a new compliant stablecoin in the US market, which will be "tailored to the highly banked and digitalized US economy." However, this may just be Tether's compromise in response to the compliance trends of US stablecoins. After all, USDT is Tether's core product, and USDT is expected to face greater competitive pressure in the near future, which is clearly not good news for Tether. The WSJ previously reported that the (GENIUS Act) compliance requirements might lead Tether to become the "biggest loser."
Similar situations are not only occurring in the United States. In February, the EU's (Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets) (MiCA) compliance list of stablecoin issuers was announced, including 10 institutions, among which Tether's biggest competitor Circle (issuer of USDC) was included, but Tether did not appear on the list.
Under pressure, Tether accelerates its layout
With storm clouds gathering, Tether will certainly not "sit idly by." Not long ago, Paolo Ardoino emphasized that Tether will continue to focus its business on markets outside the United States, serving the 3 billion users who have not yet fully connected to the traditional financial system, thereby avoiding direct competition between USDT and other stablecoins that lean towards mainstream finance.
At the same time, Tether is also accelerating its layout both inside and outside the cryptocurrency industry to seek new growth points.
According to statistics from Odaily Planet Daily, within 2025, Tether has frequently made moves in vertical fields of cryptocurrency such as mining, wallets, Layer 1/Layer 2, and exchanges through direct entry or indirect investments.
In the mining aspect:
In March, Tether announced an increase in its stake in Bitdeer to 21.4%;
In June, Tether announced plans to open-source its Bitcoin mining operating system MOS in the fourth quarter of this year to lower the entry barriers for new miners;
Also in June, Tether announced that the company holds over 100,000 BTC in total, striving to become the world's largest Bitcoin mining enterprise by the end of the year.
In the wallet aspect:
In January, Tether invested in the video-sharing platform Rumble, which announced the launch of Rumble Wallet, intending to help manage payments through AI agents/assistants;
In February, Tether announced a strategic investment in the self-custody crypto wallet Zengo to promote the support of Tether's stablecoin within its covered major blockchain ecosystem;
Also in February, Paolo Ardoino publicly criticized MetaMask for lagging, possibly intending to promote its own supported wallet products.
In the Layer 1/Layer 2 aspect:
At the beginning of June, the Layer 1 project Stable, supported by Tether's investment, officially announced its launch, with USDT as its native gas token, and Paolo Ardoino will serve as an advisor to the project;
In mid-June, another hot Bitcoin Layer 2 project supported by Tether, Plasma, successfully completed the public deposit phase, with the $1 billion deposit quota quickly sold out.
In the exchange aspect:
In June, Tether announced a strategic investment in the digital asset exchange Orionx, with the specific investment amount not yet disclosed.
Even more surprisingly, in addition to frequently making moves within the cryptocurrency industry, Tether's layout has long expanded beyond the industry, covering fields such as AI, brain-computer interfaces, agriculture, and sports.
In February, Tether announced that Tether Data is leading the development of the open-source platform BrainOS, aiming to democratize the use of advanced brain enhancement tools.
In March, Tether announced an investment of approximately €10 million to acquire a 30% stake in Italian media company Be Water, which owns podcast production companies Chora Media, Will Media, and film production and distribution company Be Water Film.
In March, Paolo Ardoino posted on X, emphasizing that Tether plans to recruit talent on a large scale to support the development of its artificial intelligence, telecommunications, and data projects.
In April, Paolo Ardoino revealed in a recent interview that Tether plans to launch its own AI platform in June (or September), which will be a peer-to-peer alternative to models like OpenAI, allowing users to control their own data and execute all complex AI logic on their devices.
In April, Tether announced the completion of a tender offer to acquire up to 49.5965 million shares of common stock from South American agricultural giant Adecoagro S.A., at a price of $12.41 per share, totaling over $615 million.
In May, Tether announced the upcoming launch of QVAC (QuantumVerse Automatic Computer), an intelligent development platform that enables highly scalable AI applications and agents to run directly on local devices without relying on centralized services and cloud infrastructure, thus protecting users from corporate access to private user data.
In June, Tether announced that it had officially requested to participate in Juventus Football Club's capital increase plan in May and applied for a board seat. Tether currently holds over 10% of Juventus Club's shares, making it the second-largest shareholder after the controlling party Exor.
In mid-June, Tether announced a strategic acquisition of equity in Elemental Altus, a publicly listed gold royalty company based in Canada. This strategy aims to integrate long-term stable assets such as gold and Bitcoin into its ecosystem.
At the end of June, Paolo Ardoino publicly stated again that Tether's $200 million investment in the brain-computer interface company Blackrock Neurotech last April is much more advanced than Musk's Neuralink.
Just yesterday, Paolo Ardoino also announced that the open-source password manager PearPass developed by Tether has begun testing and will soon be open-sourced on the platform...
The best days have become a thing of the past
With its unparalleled advantage in stablecoin liquidity and adoption, Tether, which has only 150 employees, achieved approximately $13 billion in profit in 2024, making it the most profitable company in the cryptocurrency industry and even the entire world.
However, the best days have become a thing of the past, and the wild growth phase of stablecoins is about to end. In the future, Tether will inevitably face newer and older competitors with stronger backgrounds, more thorough compliance, and stricter audits in market competition.
For Tether, it's time to look to the future. From the recent pace of its layout, it seems to have realized this.
