Compiled | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
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Translator | Ethan (@ethanzhangweb3)_

Translator's Note: At the Bitcoin 2025 conference, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino's speech may not have been a "data bombardment" or "concept frenzy" like those of traditional Web3 executives, but it was unexpectedly genuine, vivid, and even had a touch of dark humor. He compared Bitcoin to his childhood idol "Wukong," referred to gold as "the Bitcoin of nature," and while critiquing API keys, emphasized the aesthetics of peer-to-peer architecture, casually mentioning, "We are one of the largest Bitcoin miners in the world." This keynote speech by Paolo Ardoino can be seen less as a corporate roadshow and more as an expression of technological faith—Tether is attempting to expand the boundaries of stablecoins into a set of de-intermediated infrastructure systems, including currency (USDT), value anchoring (BTC), communication (Keet), smart platforms (KUBA), and even the construction of identity and sovereignty.

To conclude, it is fitting to quote him: "The cloud is not our friend. Bitcoin is."

Note: In translating this speech, we have made every effort to retain its first-person perspective and native feel, while also making appropriate refinements and adjustments to certain phrases based on the English original.

Below is the full text of Paolo Ardoino's speech:

Supporting Bitcoin is truly an exhilarating thing. I really enjoy it. Please pay more attention.

For today's speech, I want to start with this image. This is one of my favorite pictures. It expresses how I feel about Bitcoin: Bitcoin is like Wukong. I was born in the 80s, and "Dragon Ball" is part of my childhood memories, and Bitcoin is that powerful companion. Tether, on the other hand, is like another friend on the journey—its power may not be as strong, but it is always reliable and important.

Tether started from nothing in 2014 and created the world's first stablecoin—USDT. We have been working hard to create products that people truly need. Just now, I updated a slide with data because this morning, our asset scale just surpassed $153 billion. This was an unexpected development when we prepared the slides two days ago.

I want to share a poignant moment that struck me, which was when the pandemic hit. Before that, Tether was mainly used as a medium for cryptocurrency trading. But since the pandemic began, it quickly transformed into a "digital dollar" used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, becoming a part of their lives.

More importantly, since 2022, we haven't even had a formal marketing team. So I can't say this growth was achieved through "good operations" or "smart advertising." The fact is: when you create a product that people truly need, it will naturally grow and spread through word of mouth.

Some data you might find interesting: Last year, we achieved a profit of $13 billion. We currently hold over $120 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds. Additionally, we have started investing heavily in Bitcoin. As a company, we now own over 100,000 Bitcoins.

We also hold about 50 tons of gold. Yes, I know many Bitcoin supporters don't like gold and even refuse to talk about it, as if gold threatens Bitcoin's status. But I don't think so. Bitcoin is perfect, while gold is imperfect; it does not compete with Bitcoin; it competes with fiat currency.

Personally, I believe gold can almost be seen as the "primitive Bitcoin" in nature. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is the "digital gold" we created. We have about 420 million users in emerging markets and developing countries, accounting for 62% of decentralized trading volume. More significantly, about 35% of USDT users use it as a savings account—because they live in countries like Turkey, Argentina, and Vietnam, where their local currency depreciates rapidly, and they can only choose to save in dollars, with USDT being their most realistic option.

How do I view Tether? I believe it is a company that stands in stark contrast to traditional tech companies and financial institutions. Financial and big tech companies often rely on layers of intermediaries: financial intermediaries charge fees on every transaction, while tech giants control our data. Essentially, it is the same thing: we have lost sovereignty over both money and data.

Tether's goal is to provide tools through technology to help people break free from these intermediaries and achieve true individual sovereignty.

We are a company born from Bitcoin. Everyone in the company loves Bitcoin. Our headquarters is located in the Bitcoin nation—El Salvador. This country has suffered from gang violence for 20 years, but now, under the courageous leadership of the president, it has transformed. Politicians can truly make a difference, and we are seeing similar transformations in the U.S.: more and more politicians are beginning to understand the importance of Bitcoin for the nation and the world.

One thing we are proud of is that we not only buy Bitcoin but also participate in mining ourselves. Yes, by the end of this year, we may become the largest Bitcoin mining company in the world—surpassing all publicly listed companies.

Many people will ask: You already hold so much Bitcoin, why do you still mine? The answer is: Bitcoin mining is our hedge against our own assets. We are not only holders of Bitcoin but also participants in network security. We use our computing power to protect the security of this network.

We are also promoting infrastructure development, such as launching the WDK (Wallet Development Kit) to help every company, application, website, and AI agent connect to non-custodial Bitcoin wallets. I don't believe that future AI agents should connect to custodial services through APIs; rather, they should have their own independent wallets, be endowed with assets, and perform tasks for humanity, rather than being constrained by the rules of a particular company.

Recently, we launched our own AI platform—KUBA, inspired by Asimov's 1956 short story "The Last Question." The question we want to answer is: "How to reverse the entropy of the universe?" This platform focuses on local reasoning and is compatible with any device: from a $30 Android phone in Africa to high-performance servers, all supported. The AI we hope to create is decentralized and serves society, rather than being a tool to extract user data for corporate profit.

We have also invested in the Plan B network and are its largest supporter. Although "Plan B" has a different meaning in the U.S. (laughs), we give it a new connotation: when Plan A fails, everyone should have their own Plan B—capable of monetary sovereignty and communication technology sovereignty.

We are also collaborating with global universities through the Tether Education Program to promote Bitcoin education; investing in the BTC Pay Server open-source project to advance Bitcoin payment infrastructure; partnering with the city of Lugano, Switzerland, to host the Plan B summit and sponsoring local football clubs to bring the Bitcoin brand to European stadiums; and we have teamed up with Fulgur to create a venture capital fund to invest in Bitcoin startups.

We have partnered with the video platform Rumble and invested $775 million; they also have their own Bitcoin vault. We will launch a wallet product centered around Bitcoin, making it easier for more people to get started.

Additionally, we have developed a peer-to-peer communication application—Keet. It is still in the alpha testing phase but already supports high-frequency voice, text, video, and file peer-to-peer distribution, all without a central server. We want to prove that "the cloud" is not our friend; it is merely an illusion imposed on us, a tool for extracting our data.

Finally, thank you all very much. I know I spoke for a bit long, but it is an immense honor to share these thoughts here, in the U.S., with all of you. Together, we strive for the future of Bitcoin.

Thank you, everyone!

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