USDT aims to provide a lifeline to countries affected by inflation: Tether CEO

According to Tether CEO Paolo Arduino, the main purpose of the world's largest stablecoin, Tether Dollar (USDT), is to help people in an economy affected by inflation maintain their purchasing power.

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Arduino said that Tether's main focus is helping the unbanked and traditionally unbanked population gain access to USDT.

“[USDT] It is a tool that helps people in the forgotten areas of the banking industry. These 300 million people have no interest in the banking industry. These are great people but they can't ride the banking industry because they are too poor to pay interest.

Rampant inflation is forcing people in developing economies to increasingly seek foreign financing options, such as the US dollar. This issue is particularly acute in Argentina, where the national currency has lost 98% of its value against the dollar, Arduino said.

“If you live in Argentina, what you want to do is buy US dollars… We think about USDT as a tool that helps people. So we should pay attention to make it very safe. That's why we have T-Bills, Gold and Bitcoin. But right now our approach is to be 100% in T-bills in the next few quarters.

Related: Tether USDT stablecoin goes live on TON blockchain

Tether is the world's largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of more than $109 billion, compared to Circle's USDC, which ranks second with a market capitalization of $33 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Arduino attributes Tether's success to finding the right market niche, which is financial services and people who need access to US dollars. In contrast, other stablecoin issuers are trying to sell their services to the rest of the banking industry. The CEO explained.

“So our biggest competitors focus on the banking industry as their customers. But the banking industry already has the best, access to dollars. They have credit cards, debit cards and bank lines. They operate in regions like Europe and America where people don't need stablecoins.

Stablecoin usage in Europe and the United States is “approaching zero,” Arduino said, adding that serving the world's unbanked is a priority for the stablecoin issuer.

“The people who need Statcoin are those who live in emerging markets. And these people need stability. They should know that if anything happens, they can get a refund for $1.

Tether completed a ‘gold standard' security audit, a Systems and Organizational Controls 2 (SOC) audit on April 1, which demonstrates the highest level of security compliance an organization can demonstrate.

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