Is it too soon to say crypto winter? Perhaps. But it certainly is getting ugly out there: Asset prices are in freefall, key legislation hangs by a thread, and members of Crypto Twitter fret it’s their turn to learn what it’s like to “have fun staying poor.” One company, though, is sitting pretty amid all this. That would be Tether, which last week reported $10 billion in profits for 2025, and has amassed so much gold it’s now storing bars of the stuff in Swiss bunkers from World War II.
I recently sat down with Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino, whose view of crypto and the future is the subject of my latest Fortune magazine feature. The vision Ardoino shared is a dark one: He thinks Europe—and possibly the West more broadly—is on the cusp of a cultural and economic death spiral, and that new forms of decentralized technology offer the best hope for surviving this coming collapse.
This technology includes new currency networks, including the USDT stablecoin, which has become so popular in parts of Africa that “Tether” has become a verb. During our chat, however, Ardoino made clear he views Tether as much bigger than crypto. He sees a world where people communicate over P2P servers that lie beyond the reach of giant telecom companies. Tether, he thinks, can help provide this service as well as decentralized options for things like cloud computing and even farming.
This may sound pie-in-the-sky, but Tether is a company to take seriously. The company is sitting on a gusher of revenue thanks to the interest it earns on USDT’s reserves. And unlike here in the U.S., where Coinbase and banks are in a lobbying slugfest over how to share that revenue with consumers, Ardoino says Tether’s overseas customers are not particularly concerned about yield. That means it will continue to have billions to invest in its decentralized dreams—and, indeed, it has already laid out billions to invest in P2P versions of social media, AI, satellites, and more.
The question is whether any of this can work. I’m intrigued by the idea of new forms of global, permissionless technologies gaining traction. And I fear that Ardoino may be right in predicting that demand for these P2P services—including crypto—will accelerate as governments grow more dysfunctional.
But I’m also skeptical about Tether’s proposals to rewire entire societies around decentralized services. This may be possible in small, homogeneous populations like those of El Salvador or Suriname—countries that Ardoino regards as model societies—but it doesn’t sound very realistic for places like the U.S. or China.
Time will tell where Ardoino’s view of decentralization will catch on but, for now, it’s enough to say Tether, despite its controversies, is a company to watch closely. And speaking of big names in crypto, I’m pleased to announce that Fortune this spring will be dropping the inaugural Crypto 100 list—a first of its kind ranking of leading firms in ten categories in the tradition of the Fortune 500. More details soon.
Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
DECENTRALIZED NEWS
A “spy sheikh” in the UAE invested $500 million into World Liberty Financial, receiving a 49% stake in the Trump family’s flagship crypto venture. (WSJ)
Bitcoin is getting absolutely smoked, falling well below $80,000 amid market turmoil sparked by a massive silver sell-off and Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair. (CNBC)
A Delaware judge refused to dismiss a class action accusing Coinbase directors, including Marc Andreessen, of insider trading, but implied the flimsy suit will ultimately fail. (Bloomberg)
Fidelity, which has been dabbling in crypto since 2014, is jumping into the stablecoin game. It plans to use its new FIDD token for internal transactions and as part of a broader custody and reserve management strategy. (Fortune)
Inside job: Someone has been robbing U.S. Marshal wallets that hold seized crypto, some of it destined for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Respected forensics guy ZachXBT says the hacker “Lick” is likely the son of an executive who works for the Marshals as a sub-contractor. (TRM Labs)
MAIN CHARACTER OF THE WEEK
Jamie Dimon gets tapped as main character for his foul-mouthed tirade at Davos, where he told off Brian Armstrong—calling him “full of s—” for the latter’s recent stablecoin comments.
MEME O' THE MOMENT
It’s not just Bitcoin: The precious metals rally came to a screeching halt as gold and silver plummeted dramatically following months of record gains.
