Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino Reflects on 2022: A Year of Challenges and Resiliency

Paolo reflected on 2022 when I first met him at Paris Blockchain Week, labeling it as significant for both good and bad reasons.

Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, recently sat down with CryptoSlate’s James Van Straten at BTC Prague to discuss a wide range of topics related to the stablecoin giant. In one of his most transparent interviews to date, Ardoino addressed the FUD surrounding Tether, its holdings in US treasuries, competition in the industry, and more. Here are some key highlights from the conversation:

2022: A year of challenges and resiliency

Reflecting on 2022, Ardoino highlighted the year’s significance for both good and bad reasons. He noted that while the year saw the exit of many bad actors from the crypto industry, it also provided an opportunity for Tether to showcase its resilience.

“When we met it was I think 2022 was an incredible year for good and bad, in my opinion. The good thing is that many actors that were eventually recognized as bad actors have left the crypto industry for good. It also was a good moment for Tether to prove its resiliency. And that, in my opinion, is, was very, very crucial.”

Ardoino went on to explain that the events of 2022 served as a trial by fire for Tether, allowing it to prove its stability and reliability under pressure. At the time, he also made a public prediction about the downfall of Terra Luna, a competitor in the stablecoin market, which drew criticism from some who believed his competitive interests drove his comments.

“At the conference at the Blockchain Week in Paris in 2022, [it] was before the Terra Luna fallout. I publicly said, I think Terra Luna is going to go bust. And I was criticized about that because people were telling me, oh, of course you are saying that because it’s your competitor is going to eat your lunch.”

However, Ardoino maintained that his concerns stemmed from inherent issues in Terra Luna’s model. According to him, Terra Luna’s stablecoin was backed by another token they created, a structure he likened to a “Fugazi” (something fake or insubstantial). He contrasted this with Tether’s principle of ensuring they could always redeem their stablecoin for its face value, highlighting the importance of liquidity and reliability for stablecoin issuers.

Bank run and short attack on Tether

Ardoino then detailed how this led to a coordinated attack against Tether, where attackers attempted to short the stablecoin and create a bank run to prove that Tether did not have sufficient reserves. He explained that these attackers borrowed large amounts of USDT and sold it at a discount, aiming to cause panic and a rush for redemptions.

“So we discovered that they had around 7 billion USDT and they started selling it at 1 percent discount and and also they started creating panic. So they had 7 billion plus all the panic that they could gather was around another 15 billion.”

He illustrated how market makers bought the discounted USDT, redeemed it for its full value, and continued this cycle, showcasing Tether’s ability to handle massive redemptions. He highlighted that Tether successfully redeemed about 25 billion USDT in less than a month, highlighting its liquidity and resilience.

The Tether CEO drew parallels between Tether’s successful handling of the attack and traditional banking failures, specifically mentioning Washington Mutual’s collapse in 2008. He used this comparison to emphasize Tether’s robustness compared to traditional banks.

“And there is no better trial by fire than that, right? So to prove that when banks failed, we saw Washington Mutual in 2008. They failed and they were asked to redeem 10% of the money of the reserves. They failed. They went bankrupt.”

By highlighting Washington Mutual’s inability to redeem a significant portion of its reserves, Ardoino spotlighted Tether’s capability to manage large-scale redemptions without faltering, proving its financial stability in challenging situations.

US bank failures and competitor issues in 2023

Ardoino then transitioned to discussing the subsequent events of 2023, focusing on the failures of major US banks like Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Signature, where other stablecoin issuers had relationships. He pointed out that these banks failed due to poor risk management, specifically their investments in illiquid long-term municipality bonds. He mentioned that a major competitor of Tether had significant uninsured cash deposits in Silicon Valley Bank, leading to a depeg when the bank failed.

“By the way, they failed because they were investing the majority of their reserves in long term municipality bonds. Like, imagine take, we are in Prague now, imagine take like ten, tens of small towns outside Prague and imagine that billions and billions of dollars are invested in, in 10, 20, 30 years municipality bonds.”

Ardoino contrasted this with Tether