Tether 首席执行官 Paolo Ardoino 回顾 2022 年：充满挑战和韧性的一年

当我在巴黎区块链周上第一次见到 Paolo 时，Paolo 回顾了 2022 年，并认为这一年意义重大，无论是好的还是坏的。

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:

Tether 首席执行官 Paolo Ardoino 最近在 BTC布拉格与 CryptoSlate 的 James Van Straten 坐下来讨论了与这家稳定币巨头相关的广泛话题。在他迄今为止最透明的采访之一中，Ardoino 谈到了围绕 Tether、其持有的美国国债、行业竞争等问题的 FUD。以下是对话中的一些要点：

2022: A year of challenges and resiliency

2022 年：充满挑战和韧性的一年

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.

回顾 2022 年，Ardoino 强调了这一年的重要性，无论是好的还是坏的。他指出，虽然这一年见证了加密货币行业许多不良行为者的退出，但这也为 Tether 提供了展示其韧性的机会。

“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.”

“当我们见面时，我认为 2022 年无论好坏都是令人难以置信的一年。好消息是，许多最终被认为是坏人的演员已经永远离开了加密行业。这也是 Tether 证明其弹性的好时机。在我看来，这非常非常重要。”

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.

Ardoino接着解释说，2022年的事件对Tether来说是一次考验，让它在压力下证明了自己的稳定性和可靠性。当时，他还公开预测了稳定币市场的竞争对手 Terra Luna 的垮台，这引起了一些人的批评，他们认为他的竞争利益驱动了他的言论。

“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.”

“在 2022 年巴黎区块链周的会议上，[它]发生在 Terra Luna 事件发生之前。我公开说过，我认为 Terra Luna 将会破产。我因此受到了批评，因为人们告诉我，哦，你当然这么说，因为你的竞争对手会吃掉你的午餐。”

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.

然而，阿多伊诺坚称，他的担忧源于 Terra Luna 模型的固有问题。据他介绍，Terra Luna 的稳定币得到了他们创建的另一种代币的支持，他将这种结构比作“Fugazi”（虚假或虚幻的东西）。他将这一点与 Tether 确保他们始终能够按面值赎回稳定币的原则进行了对比，强调了流动性和可靠性对于稳定币发行人的重要性。

Bank run and short attack on Tether

银行挤兑和对 Tether 的空头攻击

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.

Ardoino 随后详细介绍了这如何导致针对 Tether 的协同攻击，攻击者试图做空稳定币并制造银行挤兑，以证明 Tether 没有足够的储备。他解释说，这些攻击者借入了大量USDT并折价出售，目的是引起恐慌和抢购。

“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.”

“所以我们发现他们有大约 70 亿美元的 USDT，他们开始以 1％ 的折扣出售，并且他们开始制造恐慌。所以他们有 70 亿，加上他们能聚集的所有恐慌大约还有 150 亿。”

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.

他阐述了做市商如何购买打折的 USDT，将其赎回其全部价值，并继续这个循环，展示了 Tether 处理大规模赎回的能力。他强调，Tether 在不到一个月的时间里成功赎回了约 250 亿美元的 USDT，凸显了其流动性和弹性。

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.

Tether 首席执行官将 Tether 成功应对攻击的做法与传统银行业的失败进行了比较，特别提到了 2008 年华盛顿互惠银行的倒闭。他用这种比较来强调 Tether 相对于传统银行的稳健性。

“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.”

“没有比这更好的火刑考验了，对吧？所以为了证明银行倒闭的时候，我们看到了2008年的华盛顿互惠银行。他们倒闭了，他们被要求赎回10%的准备金。他们失败了。他们破产了。”

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.

通过强调华盛顿互惠银行无法赎回其大部分储备金，Ardoino 强调了 Tether 毫不犹豫地管理大规模赎回的能力，证明了其在充满挑战的情况下的财务稳定性。

US bank failures and competitor issues in 2023

2023 年美国银行倒闭和竞争对手问题

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.

随后，Ardoino 转而讨论 2023 年的后续事件，重点关注硅谷银行、Silvergate 和 Signature 等美国主要银行的倒闭，而其他稳定币发行机构与这些银行有关系。他指出，这些银行的失败是由于风险管理不善，特别是对流动性差的长期市政债券的投资。他提到，Tether 的一个主要竞争对手在硅谷银行拥有大量未投保的现金存款，导致该银行倒闭时脱钩。

“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.”

“顺便说一句，他们失败了，因为他们将大部分储备投资于长期市政债券。就像，想象一下，我们现在在布拉格，想象一下布拉格以外的十个、几十个小镇，想象一下在 10 年、20 年、30 年的市政债券中投资了数十亿美元。”

Ardoino contrasted this with Tether

Ardoino 将其与 Tether 进行了对比