150 people created 14 billion dollars in profit, how did Tether do it?

Author: Bridget Harris

Compiled by: Shenchao TechFlow

In 2024, Tether generated $14 billion in profit with just 150 employees, equivalent to $93 million contributed by each employee. This astonishing efficiency has led many to believe that Tether may be the most operationally efficient company in the world.

So, how did this stablecoin company achieve such a feat?

Tether recorded $14 billion in profit last year, surpassing Pfizer, Tesla, and BlackRock. This was accomplished without relying on advertising or a large workforce, but rather through a product that many may not have paid much attention to—the stablecoin USDT.

Today, the circulation of USDT has reached $147 billion, far ahead of other stablecoins, making it the most widely used stablecoin globally. Moreover, Tether has embarked on ambitious explorations in areas such as artificial intelligence, private communications, and neural technology.

Whenever someone purchases USDT, Tether uses the cash received to generate returns, primarily investing in U.S. Treasury bonds.

In 2024, Tether became the seventh-largest buyer of U.S. Treasury bonds, even surpassing countries like Canada, Taiwan, and Norway. Furthermore, its growth rate continues to accelerate: last year, the total issuance of USDT reached $45 billion, a year-on-year increase of 57%, while the number of USDT users grew by 13% in the first quarter of 2025.

Although Tether has been known for its low profile in the past, the company is now beginning to share its future vision more as the U.S. regulatory environment shifts in its favor.

Stablecoins are essentially digital dollars issued on a blockchain, pegged to the dollar at a 1:1 ratio. They provide an effective means for the global population to access dollars, serving both as a savings tool and significantly enhancing the efficiency of capital flow, especially in cross-border payments.

The second-ranked stablecoin is Circle's USDC, with a circulation of $62 billion, less than half of USDT. USDC focuses more on payment compliance and institutional adoption. Unlike USDT, which dominates the limited international market for dollar access, USDC—initially launched by Coinbase and Circle—has gained more popularity in the U.S. market.

Tether's CEO, Paolo Ardoino, a 40-year-old Italian computer scientist, describes himself as a "simple person" who pays little attention to competitors.

In an interview with Forbes earlier this month, he stated, "They do not represent the true use case for stablecoins."

In his view, the core value of stablecoins lies in providing a reliable and practically usable currency for people in economically unstable countries. For individuals in countries like Argentina, Turkey, and Nigeria, where rapid depreciation of local currencies makes savings nearly impossible, there is an urgent need to access dollars.

Although the primary use case for USDT remains concentrated in emerging markets, Paolo is also exploring the launch of a domestic stablecoin specifically for U.S. institutions.

"How 'interesting' would that be for our competitors?" he joked in the Forbes interview.

One unique aspect of Tether's business is its partnership with the legendary U.S. financial institution Cantor Fitzgerald. A few years ago, when other U.S. companies were unwilling to engage with Tether, Cantor became its banking partner. At that time, Tether was controversial due to some of the reserves backing USDT, which included Chinese corporate bonds.

Despite various controversies, Cantor took the risk to establish a partnership with Tether. Recently, Cantor purchased a 5% stake in Tether for $600 million, a valuation that clearly comes at a significant discount. This move may partly be a gesture of gratitude for Cantor's early support. Notably, Cantor's former chairman and CEO, Howard Lutnick, currently serves as the Secretary of Commerce in the Trump administration.

What is the secret behind the close relationship between Tether and Cantor, and the reasons for this favorable deal?—The secret lies in Cantor's unique status: it is one of only 24 primary dealers in the U.S. that can trade directly with the Federal Reserve.

In practical terms, this means that if a large number of users attempt to exchange USDT for dollars, Tether can immediately meet the demand. As a primary dealer, Cantor helps the Federal Reserve maintain liquidity in the government bond market, granting Cantor direct access to trade with the Federal Reserve. When Tether needs cash, Cantor can sell U.S. Treasury bonds directly to the Federal Reserve without delay or intermediaries.

In other words, Tether has gained the ability to access dollars instantly through the world's safest and most liquid assets. This "firepower" is something no other stablecoin issuer can match.

Tether's strong position is not coincidental. In 2022, Tether faced attacks from Sam Bankman-Fried and his company FTX. They attempted to trigger a bank run-like crisis by accumulating billions of USDT and selling it off within just two days. Ultimately, Tether successfully handled redemption demands of up to $7 billion—equivalent to 10% of its circulation at the time.

**Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino pointed out in a recent episode of the ** Odd Lots ** podcast that a 10% run within 48 hours would be enough to bankrupt most financial institutions, yet Tether remained "unscathed."**

In a sense, Tether also has a certain resilience to fluctuations in U.S. Treasury bond rates: typically, when rates fall, economic activity increases, which drives the growth of Tether's deposits and USDT circulation (although yields may decrease, more funds can still generate considerable returns). Conversely, when rates rise, Tether can directly increase profits through higher reserve yields.

While the two may not completely offset each other, this structural dynamic is an advantage for Tether.

Critics of Tether often accuse the company of never undergoing a formal audit and speculate that USDT may be used for crime and money laundering. In response, Paolo often cites cases where illegal funds can flow unnoticed through banks, credit card networks, and payment processors until they are flagged and frozen upon entering the Tether system. Tether has assisted U.S. law enforcement in over 400 operations and collaborated with 230 agencies from 50 countries.

Paolo also believes that in regions like South America and Africa, Tether serves as the last line of defense in the process of dollarization. In these areas, "the presence of the U.S. is almost nonexistent," he mentioned in the Odd Lots podcast, "except for McDonald's."

"In these places, hospitals, schools, libraries, and airports are built by China," Paolo said. He also noted that China is promoting a gold-backed digital currency to pay all employees involved in these infrastructure projects. If successful, this initiative could threaten the dollar's status as the reserve currency and ultimately undermine U.S. global political influence.

In villages in Africa, Tether is building small stations equipped with solar panels for people to rent batteries at a cost of 3 USDT per month. In these areas, electricity resources are extremely scarce, with 600 million people lacking reliable power supply. Considering the average monthly salary in these villages is about $80, this 3 USDT subscription service is very affordable for local residents. Similar initiatives are also emerging in South America, where local small shops have begun accepting USDT payments. These channels not only serve as grassroots distribution mechanisms for USDT (benefiting Tether's business growth) but also inadvertently promote the global influence of the dollar (which is good news for the U.S. government).

Tether's ambitions extend beyond the stablecoin business. The company has also invested in artificial intelligence data centers, such as Northern Data, which has 24,000 GPUs. Additionally, Tether is developing a peer-to-peer (P2P) chat application called Keet.

Historically, the main issue with peer-to-peer applications has been poor user experience, and Tether is working to address this. "We are looking for solutions to user experience (UX) issues, ultimately hoping to achieve the same user experience as WhatsApp—but completely P2P," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated via Zoom. The Holepunch protocol supporting Keet is actually a broadly applicable P2P standard that can be used to build various decentralized systems.

"What if we could suddenly build a series of applications—from social media and messaging to enterprise applications—that not only reduce infrastructure costs by 97% but also enhance privacy and ensure that data belongs to its true users?"

In addition, Tether has developed a platform called Hadron for asset tokenization; launched a self-custodial open-source wallet; and invested in a brain-computer interface company.

In terms of employee numbers, Tether's team is small, with only 150 people, but loyalty is exceptionally high. "When we went through our toughest times, not a single person on my team left," Paolo mentioned at a Cantor crypto conference.

He partly attributes this to Tether's practice of primarily hiring talent from emerging markets. "They know what truly matters… They are willing to work for us because they see that we are genuinely trying to solve the real problems they face, rather than those that the wealthy world thinks they have," Paolo explained.

Paolo believes that Tether is a once-in-a-century company because it can "separate the creation of excellent technology from the need for profit." In other words, the company can focus on innovation (not limited to USDT) without worrying about short-term profit pressures. Thanks to the substantial income generated by USDT, Tether has the capability to develop "the craziest technologies" without the urgency to profit from them.

"We use the technology we develop as a distribution layer to support our 'golden goose'—USDT. I don't think any other company can do that," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated in an interview.

"The more our technology empowers users, the more successful our core product will be. This is fundamentally different from traditional tech companies—they often need to trap users in cages to sell more products."

One of the most reassuring aspects of Tether's story is that its leadership has never forgotten the original intention of cryptocurrency. "Institutions will betray you for a basis point (0.01%)," Paolo mentioned in the Odd Lots podcast. This attitude was once a consensus within the entire crypto community during the industry's early days, but it has gradually been forgotten. The goal of transferring power from exploitative institutions back to individuals is precisely the original intention behind the birth of cryptocurrency.

Interestingly, one of the wealthiest and most influential figures in the crypto space today remains loyal to these initial principles, while those who have betrayed their original intentions in pursuit of money often end up failing or even ending up in prison. Equally rare is a company that is so profitable yet can genuinely help a user base: those who would otherwise have no access to stable currency in emerging markets. And all of this stems from Paolo's sincere belief: "I hope Tether is seen as… a positive contribution to the world."

When discussing his vision for Tether, Paolo said, "The past 20 years have been very good for the Western world, but I don't think the next 10 to 15 years will be as stable for the Western world. We are a stablecoin company… but perhaps we are more of a 'stability company.' Our technology aims to bring stability to society, and this stability can start with currency."