Interview with Tether CEO: Sleeping 5 Hours a Night, Aiming for 100x Growth for TechFlow
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Interview with Tether CEO: Sleeping 5 Hours a Night, Aiming for 100x Growth for TechFlow
Everyone should have their own mission, no matter how big or small, as long as you're happy.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsCompiled & Translated: TechFlow
Guest: Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether & CTO of Bitfinex
Host: Kevin Follonier
Podcast Source: When Shift Happens
Original Title: USDT Founder: Bitcoin, Gold, Stablecoin, & Tether, the Most Profitable Company in the World | EP 143
Release Date: October 16, 2025
Key Takeaways
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether and CTO of Bitfinex, shares how he built one of the most profitable companies globally—generating approximately $100 million in profit per employee on average.
Tether launched USDT, the world’s most widely used stablecoin, providing financial support to nearly 3 billion unbanked people worldwide, especially in countries suffering from extreme inflation and financial crises.
In today’s increasingly unstable global economy, Paolo has founded a company dedicated to bringing stability through “democratizing finance,” achieving extraordinary success. Last year, Tether generated $13.7 billion in revenue.
Highlights Summary
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I usually sleep at least five hours every night. But the problem is my sleep is fragmented because I keep notifications on—I wake up every hour to check them, then go back to sleep.
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My hometown is a small village with only 600 people, so entertainment options were limited. I started learning programming at age eight, and that passion has continued through university until today.
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I personally have almost no hobbies. In fact, my only hobby is thinking every day about our mission and how to bring stability to the world.
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USDT exists precisely to provide financial stability for people in emerging markets facing extreme economic instability.
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Tether isn’t just a stablecoin company—it’s a stability company. That’s Tether’s true mission and what “stability company” really means: a company whose ultimate goal is social stability.
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We need to make access to finance and technology more democratic, enabling more people to participate directly through peer-to-peer technologies and decentralized finance.
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Tether is a once-in-a-century company. Unlike others trying to build closed ecosystems, Tether’s platform is open to the entire world—a completely different business model and the key to our success.
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Everyone should have their own mission, big or small—as long as it brings happiness.
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People often use art to express emotions and ideas, but I realized my form of expression is programming—I can create my own world and invite others into it through code.
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Stablecoins are actually the ultimate social network.
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With this fundraising (of $20 billion), we want to show the world that Tether’s mission goes far beyond current achievements—we aim for 100x growth. Tether has capital, philosophy, and technological innovation to do anything we set our minds to.
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If you create a product that solves real-world problems, it has the potential to truly change the world.
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Football is a global sport that reaches all social classes, rich and poor alike. Investing in football clubs is an easy way to connect with global users—we hold a 10% stake in Italian Serie A club Juventus.
Motivation Behind Continuous Effort
Kevin Follonier: Many of my guests share one thing—they’ve experienced something in life that created a sense of imbalance within them. So, is Tether’s mission today connected to something you lacked when you were younger?
Paolo Ardoino:
I consider myself lucky. Although my family wasn’t wealthy, I learned the most important lesson from them—hard work. I remember my grandparents, who have passed away, running a small farm in Italy. They focused on producing high-quality olive oil and tomatoes, paying meticulous attention to detail. Whether it was tomatoes, sage, rosemary, or asparagus, they always aimed to do it best—this passion lasted their entire lives.
My grandfather woke up at five every morning, took a short nap around one in the afternoon, and went back to work in the evening. This simple yet fulfilling lifestyle kept him happy throughout. Though he only had elementary education, he was excellent at math. My parents were also hardworking role models. My mother was a kindergarten teacher, and my father was a regular employee who worked at Italy’s national energy company before retiring in Israel. They’re still alive, and I feel fortunate for that. After work, they’d take us to play sports and help out on the farm. You could say our lives revolved around waking up, working hard, and getting things done—but it was all driven by passion. I never heard them complain because, for them, this was their mission.
Everyone should have their own mission, big or small, as long as it brings joy. So when someone says to me, “Oh, you work so hard,” I reply: No, I see much deeper meaning in my work—I’m certainly not just working hard.
My sleep schedule is also quite unusual: I usually sleep at least five hours per night, but my sleep is fragmented because I keep notifications on—I wake up every hour to check them, then go back to sleep.
Kevin Follonier: You’ve been doing this for 11 years—five hours of sleep per night, waking every hour? Do you nap during the day?
Paolo Ardoino:
No. If I nap during the day, I feel groggy. So I never take naps.
Started Programming at Age 8
Kevin Follonier: You started programming at age eight? How did that happen?
Paolo Ardoino:
My father worked at Italy’s national energy company. In the early 90s, public enterprises in Italy began introducing computers to improve efficiency and modernize operations. As everyone knows, Italy’s bureaucracy is complex, and many processes were time-consuming, so computers significantly improved productivity. My father was passionate about these new technologies. When I was seven, he brought home a computer and told me it was very expensive—costing two months’ salary. Though I didn’t fully understand what two months’ salary meant, he emphasized that it was costly and warned me not to break it.
As an only child, I naturally became deeply curious about the machine. We had floppy disks and played games, but due to financial constraints, we couldn’t afford many games. Also, in Italy in 1991, game resources were hard to find. My hometown had only 600 people, so entertainment was limited. Over time, I grew tired of existing games and wanted to create my own. I asked my father to buy me a book on how to program games. He said: “Alright, Paolo, I can buy it, but it costs 60,000 lira.”
At that time, Italy used lira as currency. He asked: “Are you sure you want this? It’s expensive.” I replied: “I want to learn.” Then he brought the book home, and I started learning programming—a passion that continued through university and persists today.
The Infinite Possibilities of Programming
Kevin Follonier: You mentioned that programming is a unique form of expression, different from other art forms, capable of unleashing human imagination and allowing us to create entirely new worlds full of infinite possibilities. Could you elaborate on that?
Paolo Ardoino:
Absolutely. To be honest, I’m not good at traditional art forms. I used to be a decent guitarist, but haven’t played in years. In other artistic fields, I’d say I have zero talent. For example, in school art classes—whether technical drawing or hands-on projects—my work always looked messy. I remember when painting, I’d swing my arm too wildly, scribbling randomly with pencils, ending up with unsatisfactory results. I can’t color properly or sing—I struggle even with basic artistic expression.
But while people often use art to express emotions and thoughts, I realized my way of expression is through programming. I can create my own world and invite others into it through code.
What Is a Stablecoin & Why Are Stablecoins So Important
Kevin Follonier: You used programming to create stablecoins. What is a stablecoin? How would you explain it to a mother?
Paolo Ardoino:
Simply put, a stablecoin is a digital currency, similar to the numbers you see in your bank account. The difference is that stablecoins use blockchain technology for transfers instead of relying on banking systems. You can think of it as “digital dollars” that can freely circulate globally like cash.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology, like a massive borderless database with servers distributed worldwide rather than centralized in a single bank or institution. We use the best form of database—the decentralized database—to move dollars.
Kevin Follonier: Why are stablecoins so important in our world?
Paolo Ardoino:
The significance of stablecoins lies in their ability to serve billions of people lacking financial services. These individuals often live in countries with high inflation—Europe sees rates between 30% and 34%, Turkey hits 50%, Nigeria is even higher, and Argentina sometimes exceeds 200%. In such countries, high inflation rapidly devalues local currencies, severely impacting purchasing power. Now in 2025, everyone is interested in stablecoins.
In developed nations like the U.S. and Europe, financial systems are already efficient—you likely have bank accounts, credit cards, and payment tools like Cash App or PayPal, making daily transfers nearly frictionless. But in some developing countries, financial efficiency may be only 5%, and many can’t even open bank accounts. Stablecoins, using blockchain technology, can raise financial efficiency in these regions to 60% or 70%. For someone in a remote African village, this change is enormous—it enables participation in the global economy and opens up new opportunities.
The internet began enabling such connections—indeed, the internet is a way to invite people into a global context—but without financial services, the internet becomes meaningless. I believe stablecoins are, in this sense, the ultimate social network, because in my view, a social network of money is the ultimate social network—it involves human interaction, peer-to-peer exchange, and inherently carries value and the information you wish to transfer.
Tether’s Mission & Becoming a Stability Company
Kevin Follonier: So what is your mission?
Paolo Ardoino:
My mission is to bring stability to the world. In a world gradually drifting toward anxiety and chaos, I believe stability is crucial. This might sound strange, but Tether’s success is closely tied to the worsening of global issues. If the financial system were fair, accessible, and functioning well, USDT wouldn’t be necessary. USDT exists precisely to provide financial stability for those inemerging marketsfacing extreme economic instability.
As a developer, I believe we’re building Tether into a leader in technology—not just in finance, but also in telecom, social media, energy, and other sectors. Our goal is to use decentralized technology to make these industries more open and accessible, just as we’ve done with the dollar and finance—that is Tether’s core mission. Notably, most of our profits aren’t distributed to shareholders—about 95% stay within the company, invested in new ventures and ideas to support our mission.
I personally have almost no hobbies. In fact, my only hobby is thinking daily about how to fulfill this mission. I’m deeply obsessed with it—I’m the kind of person who dives deep into a field, and this essentially consumes my entire life.
Kevin Follonier: In Docker Times, you mentioned that as global instability increases, Tether will continue investing part of its profits into safe assets like Bitcoin, gold, and land. So, what is a stability company?
Paolo Ardoino:
I often reflect: what truly defines a “stability company”? Once, a journalist asked me how to define Tether in a few sentences. He tried saying, “Tether is a stablecoin company.” My response was: Tether isn’t just a stablecoin company—it’s a stability company.
In my view, accessibility to technology and finance is key to social stability. If people can easily access tech and financial services, they’ll have less motivation to create chaos and instability. Often, social unrest stems from dissatisfaction, which itself arises from extremely difficult living conditions.
Of course, there are other causes of social instability, but overall, I believe global stability is closely tied to the vast gaps between nations and regions. Over the past 20 to 30 years, despite technology aiming to close these gaps, it has actually worsened inequality. The same applies to finance—about half the world’s population lacks stable access to financial services, even basic bank accounts. It’s not because they’re untrustworthy, but because their poverty makes banks uninterested. This phenomenon is particularly evident in some African or Central American countries, severely undermining regional stability, as tech and financial resources are entirely skewed toward a small wealthy elite.
We need to democratize access to finance and technology, enabling more people to participate directly through peer-to-peer technologies anddecentralized finance. I believe when people’s lives, families, communities, and nations become more stable, they’ll have less incentive to create chaos. This is Tether’s mission and the true meaning of a “stability company”—a company whose ultimate goal is social stability. We’ve proven such a company can be built. And reassuringly, the more we advance in this direction, the stronger our profitability becomes.
This is why I describe Tether as a “once-in-a-century company.” This isn’t boasting—Tether’s uniqueness lies in the fact that the more we promote openness, decentralization, and open-source principles, the broader our user base becomes. Users leverage Tether’s tools to achieve financial freedom and free speech, and the wider this process, the more valuable our data becomes. Unlike companies trying to build closed ecosystems, Tether’s platform is open to the entire world—a fundamentally differentbusiness modeland the key to our success.
Tether: The Company with the Highest Profit Per Employee Globally
Kevin Follonier: You mentioned Tether is one of the world’s top companies, with a profit margin as high as 99%. How did you build a company where each employee generates about $100 million in annual profit? Have you deeply reflected on this?
Paolo Ardoino:
To be frank, I haven’t particularly dwelled on such figures. We’ve always focused on optimizing efficiency—whenever doing something, I ask myself: Why are we doing this? Is there a better way? How can we further improve efficiency? Two years ago, Tether’s team was only 40 people, but as the business expanded, we now have 250 to 300 employees, including many developers as we venture into new areas like AI. However, the team managing the core stablecoin operations remains around 100 people.
Certainly, the current high-interest-rate environment has greatly boosted our profitability. Before 2022, global interest rates were low, and this shift was unpredictable. Additionally, the pandemic’s impact was equally unforeseen—these factors collectively drove our profit growth. Still, we believe continuously expanding into new business areas will help maintain high profitability over the long term. Optimizing efficiency and seizing opportunities are key to our success.
Why Raise $20 Billion?
Kevin Follonier: You recently announced considering raising $20 billion, valuing the company at $500 billion. If this funding were available tomorrow, how would you use it?
Paolo Ardoino:
Last year we made $13.7 billion in profit, and this year is expected to be similar. But I want to emphasize: our fundraising isn’t just about money—it’s about sending a message. Like the Joker says in *Batman*: “It’s not about the money—it’s about sending a message.” We want to show the world through this fundraising that Tether’s mission goes far beyond current achievements—our goal is 100x growth.
Once in public, I mentioned being a big fan of Peter Thiel and reading his book *From 0 to 1*. But we’re no longer in an era where startups simply grow data to earn huge profits. I’d rather say our goal is moving “from 0 to 100” from our current foundation. I once figuratively called it “0.25” because we’ve just begun.
I say this not because of how much money we’ve made, but because of the potential we believe we must seize to express our vision of this opportunity.
I define Tether as a once-in-a-century opportunity because I believe every company needs three things: philosophy, direction, and capital. First, you need a philosophy or belief—knowing what kind of company you want to be; second, you need innovation capability, whether in technology or other areas; third, you need capital. Most companies possess only one or two of these. You can be a large-scale innovator with the right philosophy, but without funds, you’ll need to seek investment—from VCs. Yet VC incentives require earning more than they invest, potentially diverting you from your original project, philosophy, and ideas.
In this context, Tether has capital, philosophy, and technological innovation—we can do anything we want. Thus, our message is clear: we have much more to show, we aim for massive growth, and our vision is astonishing. We hope partners will join us to realize this unique and powerful vision—we don’t want to mess this up.
Why Did Tether Invest in @Plasma?
Kevin Follonier: Tether recently invested in a company called Plasma, whose founder Paul previously appeared on our podcast and helped build this platform. Why is Plasma so important that Tether decided to invest?
Paolo Ardoino:
I believe Tether’s USDT is not just adigital currencybut also a fundamental component ofblockchain technology—stablecoins are essentially digitized dollars based on blockchain. However, for many years, blockchain development has veered off course. Many developers focus on quickly launching hype-driven blockchain projects, like meme coins such as Dogecoin. While this may work short-term, it doesn’t drive long-term industry progress. Still, such projects have allowed some teams to earn money.
USDT’s success proves one truth: If you create a product that solves real-world problems, it has the potential to truly change the world.
Therefore, I believe blockchains built around stablecoins or focused on specific uses can make stablecoin transfers extremely cheap and simple. For example, if you hold stablecoins on Ethereum today, you still need ETH to pay gas fees to transfer USDT—this user experience needs improvement. Despite years of industry development, user experience quality remains low because we’ve focused on the wrong things, obsessing over our own “ecosystem,” whose members are basically tech-savvy geeks and those with time to learn new things. But for most ordinary people, this approach doesn’t work. This is also why USDT is so popular globally—it doesn’t cater to speculators.
An interesting statistic shows that 67% of USDT transactions are purely for fund transfers, whereas only 10% to 20% of other stablecoin transactions involve transferring other assets. This indicates most USDT users simply want stable $1 value. In contrast, 80% of other stablecoin users simultaneously transfer other assets, meaning they’re more inclined toward DeFi asset trading. Therefore, I’d rather serve tens of millions of ordinary users in Africa than merely meet the needs of 10,000 bankers in New York.
Why Does Tether Own a 10% Stake in Juventus Football Club?
Kevin Follonier: Tether recently invested in Juventus Football Club, holding about a 10% stake. This raises curiosity—why would a company focused on stablecoins invest in a football club?
Paolo Ardoino:
First, Giancarlo and I are both die-hard Juventus fans. Giancarlo is from Piedmont, Italy, where Juventus is the region’s iconic team. I grew up near Genoa, about 80 to 100 kilometers from Turin. Many people from our hometown vacation in Piedmont, so Juventus has a huge influence. My father is a Juventus fan, and I inherited his passion—Giancarlo feels the same.
Another reason is that we believe Italy’s football industry needs modernization. In Italy, football clubs are often used by entrepreneurs as tools of power—they typically own both media and clubs, using these resources for political activities. In contrast, we see investments in football by countries like Saudi Arabia, and clubs like Chelsea, Manchester United, and Paris Saint-Germain, which already have hundreds of millions of fans globally. Football is a global sport that reaches all social strata, rich and poor. Therefore, investing in football clubs is a simple way to reach global users.
We hope Italian football clubs can build closer ties with fans, spread positive values, and achieve profitability through modern management. Club success should stem from team strength, match performance, and fan engagement. Yet in many Italian clubs, this model hasn’t been fully realized. By investing in Juventus, we hope to drive transformation in Italian football, making Juventus more international and forward-looking.
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