The Most Centralized Giant in the Crypto World Starts Selling the 'Decentralized AI' Dream
Tether, the highly centralized issuer of the USDT stablecoin, reported $13 billion in profit in 2024—far exceeding the combined revenues and losses of major AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic. With only 150 employees, Tether earns primarily by investing user funds in U.S. Treasury bonds, profiting from the interest without paying users any yield.
Now, Tether is aggressively investing in AI. It loaned over $600 million to Northern Data, Europe’s largest GPU cloud provider with over 10,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs. It also released QVAC Genesis, a massive open-source AI training dataset, and acquired Blackrock Neurotech, a brain-computer interface company, for $200 million. Total AI-related investments approach $1 billion, with potential additional deals in robotics sector.
Despite its centralized control over USDT reserves and lack of external audits, Tether promotes a “decentralized AI” vision—advocating for local AI operation and individual data ownership. Critics find this ironic, given Tether’s opaque governance.
Tether’s move into AI may stem from concerns over declining Treasury yields and a desire to position itself as a tech innovator. Unlike AI startups burning billions without clear profitability, Tether uses stablecoin profits to fund speculative AI bets—insulating itself from sector risks while gaining influence. The article suggests that in 2026, the best business model in AI might be not doing AI at all, but rather funding it with profits from a separate, lucrative venture.
比推01/05 14:50
