Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has expressed concerns about competitors targeting its stablecoin business with regulations. In a post on X, he claimed that other stablecoin issuers are trying to use lawfare to kill the USDT issuer instead of building a better product. According to Ardoino , USDT has been the most successful tool for establishing US dollar dominance in emerging markets, but that has only made it a bigger target for competitors instead of motivating them to improve their products. He said: “While our competitors’ business model should be to build a better product and even bigger distribution network, their real intent is “Kill Tether. Every single business or political meeting that they have culminates with this intent.” Although he did not name any particular competitor, he noted how several people have reported on stablecoin issuers lobbying with the US administration to enact regulations that might affect Tether. Stablecoin bill could cut offshore issuers from US Treasuries Interestingly, Ardoino comments were in reaction to a post by Hiframework CEO Vance Spencer , who alleged that the proposed stablecoin law contains requirements that will ban offshore centralized stablecoin issuers from accessing US Treasuries. Spencer wrote: “The soon-to-be revealed stablecoin markup apparently has requirements to shut off access to the treasury market to centralized international stablecoin issuers – which is straight up batshit crazy.” He described the move as an attempt at regulatory capture by some of the US-based stablecoin issuers based in the US. As for Ardoino, he has promised to fight against the attacks, saying that Tether will prevent competitors from using their quest for a monopoly to endanger the millions of millions of people who rely on USDT. The company will not be fighting that battle alone. Several others in the crypto sector also believe that protecting the stablecoin industry is necessary. Spencer stated that it is important for the industry to take a stand on the Stablecoin and Market Structure bills, just as it did when FTX promoted a toxic bill in 2021. Community debates effect of such move Meanwhile, many in the crypto community believe that any attempt to limit Tether access to US Treasuries is bad for the crypto industry and the US in general. Castle Island venture founder Nic Carter noted that the dollar system is largely offshore, and that is a good thing for the US, and any law that stops foreigners from holding US debt is bad for the international dollar system. He wrote: “The dollar system is already very much offshore. With treasuries there are trillions held offshore in every construct you can imagine. We want foreigners to hold our debt. The whole system is premised on it.” Spencer also observed that the demand for stablecoins is overseas, and the only way for the US dollar to be the future of stablecoins is for competitive offshore stablecoins to grow. He said: “Please tell me how limiting access to hundreds of billions of dollars of demand for treasuries helps us preserve dollar hegemony across the globe, or fix our debt problem.” Interestingly, Tether is the 18th biggest holder of the US Treasuries, with over $115 billion of its reserves in the US Treasury. As Ardoino noted, the stablecoin now has over 400 million users and grows at 35 million wallets per quarter. He stated that this shows the importance of strengthening the US dollar and spreading its use in developing countries. Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot
