Tether is preparing to enter the $250 million crypto-AI sector

Tether, the company behind the major stablecoin USDT, is venturing into the $25 billion crypto-AI sector with the launch of a fully open-source artificial intelligence platform that integrates peer-to-peer payments in USDT and Bitcoin, CEO Paolo Ardoino announced.

Dubbed Tether AI, the platform is set to operate without centralized control points or API keys. Instead, it will function as a “modular and composable” AI runtime capable of adapting to any hardware or device, according to Ardoino’s statement on X.

The initiative is part of a wider strategy to expand Tether’s reach beyond stablecoins into artificial intelligence and peer-to-peer infrastructure. In late 2024, the company restructured to include new business units, such as Tether Data, a division dedicated to AI and decentralized systems.

Tether AI will incorporate Keet, the firm’s peer-to-peer chat platform, and integrate with Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK). WDK allows developers to build non-custodial wallets for USDT and Bitcoin, enabling direct, private crypto transactions across desktop, web, and mobile platforms.

Tether first hinted at its AI ambitions in December 2024 with plans to launch a dedicated platform by early 2025. Since then, Ardoino has teased several AI-powered tools under development, including voice assistants, translation services, and crypto wallet bots.

While technical details remain limited, Tether describes the project as a step toward building decentralized AI aligned with sci-fi author Isaac Asimov’s vision.

Tether revealed last week strong first-quarter earnings for 2025, posting over $1 billion in operating profit and disclosing nearly $120 billion in U.S. Treasury-related assets.

The financials show that Tether held $98.5 billion in direct Treasury bills as of March 31, along with an additional $23 billion tied up in cash-like instruments such as repo agreements. The report reflects the company’s continued tilt toward highly liquid, low-risk assets to support its flagship token, USDT.

Tether said it currently maintains $5.6 billion in reserves beyond what is needed to back USDT, a dip from the $7.1 billion surplus recorded at the end of 2024. USDT’s supply grew by $7 billion during the quarter, now topping $149 billion in circulation. Wallet addresses using the token also saw a bump, increasing by 46 million.

The firm continues to use some of its surplus capital for venture-style investments, with more than $2 billion now deployed across sectors like renewable energy, AI, encrypted communication, and digital infrastructure.

USDT remains the dominant dollar-backed stablecoin, along with Circle’s USDC. Together, the two represent 87% of the stablecoin market, which analysts expect to balloon to $2 trillion by 2028, according to U.S. Treasury forecasts.