Tether has allowed the issuance of a separate stablecoin in the US
Tether is studying the possibility of launching a new stablecoin for institutional clients in the U.S., the company's head Paolo Ardoino told Bloomberg in an interview. He explained the idea of launching a token different from USDT for US companies by the request of the local market.
Ardoino estimates that 40% of all USDT holders in the world use the token as a savings instrument. In emerging markets, in countries where local currencies are volatile, USDT is used as a dollar surrogate - a “safe haven asset.”
In the U.S., where dollars are easily accessible, any Tether-issued stablecoin will be targeted at institutions that need to make payments quickly, as “the product's relevance to the market is completely different than a stablecoin used in Africa,” Ardoino said.
Tether is one of the fastest growing companies in the crypto market. In late January, Tether reported record profits - it earned more than $13 billion for 2024. The company's main income comes from interest on U.S. Treasury bonds, which are used as reserves that support the issuance of USDT
The topic of developing a dollar-based stablecoin market has been promoted by US President Donald Trump since late January, when the first executive order after his inauguration - “Strengthening US Leadership in Digital Finance” - was signed, where stablecoins were singled out as a key item. The US Congress is now considering a bill to regulate such tokens.
At the same time, Tether's competitor, the American company Circle, is promoting the idea that issuers of dollar-denominated steblecoins should be registered in the United States. Tether, on the other hand, is registered in El Salvador. According to Ardoino, it was this bill that prompted Tether to consider launching an alternative to its flagship USDT product in the US.
“We are discussing this possibility. We need to wait for the final version and see what bill is passed, but we're definitely open to it,” Ardoino said.
In 2024, the European Union introduced new rules to regulate stablecoins, which require issuers of such tokens to have a special license. Circle received such authorization, while Tether did not. Cryptocurrency exchanges have delisted USDT in the EU. At the same time, Tether announced that it will issue MiCA-compliant EURQ and USDQ stablecoins together with Quantoz Payments.
