Ardoino shared his thoughts on ETFs and the halving, and explained who Tether’s core market is and why he’s not interested in DeFi.
In a recent interview with CryptoPotato at Token2049 in Dubai, Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino talked about the Bitcoin halving, the recently launched ETFs, USDT’s market share, and more.
Ardoino, who is also the CTO of BitFinex, believes that stablecoins like USDT were created for the unbanked population, not for developed countries like the US.
Bitcoin ETFs and the halving impact
During the interview, Tether’s CEO agreed with CryptoQuant’s previous assessment that the impact of halvings is decreasing over time.
He argued that while halving is a fundamental event, it is priced in and expected. Therefore, according to him, the BTC halving might have already been priced in, especially since Bitcoin rallied to a new ATH ahead of the event.
However, Ardoino highlighted the launch of physical Bitcoin ETFs in the US in January this year as the most bullish development in the crypto ecosystem. He said that retail investors are now pouring money into these ETFs.
How Bitcoin ETFs have impacted USDT
Ardoino dismissed earlier claims that the approval and launch of physical Bitcoin ETFs will make USDT and other stablecoins less relevant.
On the contrary, he said that USDT’s market cap has jumped by around $20 billion since January and now stands at around $110 billion.
He also noted that Ethereum’s native stablecoin USDC is growing fast and will be a strong competitor to Tether. He believes that this is healthy, as people should know the differences between the various stablecoins since they are not created equal.
