Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino Says "Fiat Currencies Are Memecoins with Extra Steps"

Among the many hot takes and bold statements shared at the Token2049 event in Dubai

Among the many hot takes and bold statements shared at the Token2049 event in Dubai on 30 April, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino’s comment took the proverbial cake.

“Fiat currencies are memecoins with extra steps,” he said.

Now, as outlandish as the statement might seem at first glance, there was a kernel of truth to it. As Ardoino explained, humans create fiat currencies, changing them every few years; they shift sentiments and make decisions based on those changed sentiments. Therefore, “as memecoins, they are very unpredictable.”

Spicy takes aside, Ardoino shared valid inputs on the adoption of stablecoins in our current financial setting and its future impact on the global financial landscape.

Tuning in to Paolo Ardoino from Tether at TOKEN2049 — exciting insights on stablecoins and the future of crypto! Guy Young, from $ENA can also be seen.#Token2049 ⁦@paoloardoino⁩ ⁦@token2049⁩ ⁦@ethena_labs⁩ ⁦@gdog97_⁩ pic.twitter.com/Z6mEJBTCnv

— Tyrion Trades (@TradesTyr) April 30, 2025

Growing Role Of Stablecoin In Trade Financing

Ardoino observed that the world saw a surge in stablecoin adoption in the last 12 months.

According to Ardoino, prior to 2020, the majority of Tether’s use cases lay in crypto trading. However, during and post-COVID, the emerging markets shifted, and people increasingly used stablecoins as a hedge against their rapidly depreciating national currencies against the US dollar.

Word-of-mouth promotions by the younger generation played a key role in mainstreaming the adoption of stablecoins among the older generation as a means of savings and settling payments instantly.

Ardoino stated that currently, 37% of USDT users use the instrument as a means of saving. Additionally, 30% of USDT users use it to settle payments (cross-border remittances, etc.), while the rest remains tied to crypto trading.

Reflecting on the institutional adoption of USDT, Ardoino explained that Tether is currently observing massive adoption in trade finance for commodity trading.

Stablecoins offer a huge value proposition for businesses engaged in time-sensitive operations such as oil shipment, where companies cannot unload barrels of oil on the dock until they reflect the payment, which currently can take anywhere from 5 business days to two weeks.

“I think the next leg up for USDT to get from 1.40 billion today to 1 trillion will be trade finance,” he concluded.

Stablecoins To Unify Localised Economies

“The world is going back towards localisation,” said Ardoino, although money will remain globalised. He said that with the recent tariff announcements, countries are much more incentivised to develop their domestic markets.

“I want to have every single national currency be tokenised so that people can choose very quickly. They can move money. They can move value in a very transparent way. It’s very important that all the transactional value moves on-chain, but while allowing countries to look more at themselves and protect their markets because that’s gonna be the future,” he explained.

When quizzed on the issue of countries adopting stablecoins instead of their national currencies and any perceived pushback by local authorities due to this phenomenon, Ardoino said that USDT currently enables remittances that flow from countries like the US and Europe to countries where the national currency isn’t that strong.

On average, for emerging markets, remittances make up 20% of their GDP. The number can go up to 80% in some cases. Additionally, the reduced cost of moving funds is a huge enabler, as the recipients get to keep more of their money.

Moreover, as businesses and consumers in emerging markets largely import in dollars, they are increasingly embracing stablecoins to enable faster and more efficient settlements.