Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, is undergoing a significant transformation and expanding its operations far beyond its core stablecoin business.
Recent reports, particularly from the Financial Times describe Tether as accelerating its evolution from a primarily crypto-focused infrastructure provider into a more diversified holding company-like entity.
Tether’s headcount has grown to around 300 employees, with plans to hire an additional 150 staff over the next 18 months. These hires focus heavily on engineers and other technical roles to support technology development and broader initiatives.
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The company now manages approximately 140 investments through arms like Tether Investments. This eclectic portfolio spans sectors including artificial intelligence (AI), energy, media, fintech, precious metals, agriculture, digital assets, land, and peer-to-peer communications.
Notable recent moves include: A $150 million strategic investment in Gold.com acquiring ~12% stake to enhance access to tokenized and physical gold, integrating with Tether’s gold-backed asset XAU?.
A $100 million equity investment in Anchorage Digital, a U.S.-regulated digital asset bank, to bolster custody, staking, and regulated stablecoin infrastructure like supporting its USA? stablecoin. Tether is centralizing financial and operational management in London under new CFO Simon McWilliams to improve corporate governance and discipline.
The company emphasizes building a “freedom tech stack” across finance, intelligence, communications, and energy, while deploying massive profits into these areas. Tether, through its investment arm Tether Investments, has been actively expanding into artificial intelligence (AI) as part of its broader diversification strategy beyond stablecoins.
This push aligns with CEO Paolo Ardoino’s vision of building a “freedom tech stack” that includes decentralized, peer-to-peer AI infrastructure to empower individuals in emerging markets and beyond.
Tether’s AI efforts focus on decentralized/on-device AI, physical AI (robotics), and related infrastructure, often integrating with its stablecoins like USDT for payments in AI ecosystems.
As of February 2026, Tether’s portfolio includes around 140 investments across sectors like AI, robotics, energy, and more, with AI being a key pillar. The company operates over 20,000 dedicated AI GPUs for its initiatives and emphasizes local/on-device AI to avoid reliance on centralized big tech platforms.
Tether participated in a €70 million ~$81 million funding round for this humanoid robotics startup, a major spinoff from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). The investment supports development of intelligent humanoid robots with Physical AI (fusion of robotics and AI), edge AI solutions, industrial-scale performance, and human-centric interaction.
Funding accelerates platform validation, production facilities, and ecosystem integration. Paolo Ardoino highlighted synergies with Tether’s on-device AI platform QVAC and programmable money. Tether was in advanced talks to lead a massive €1 billion ~$1.07-1.15 billion investment round, potentially valuing Neura at €8-10 billion.
This German humanoid robotics firm focuses on AI-driven robots. While some reports described it as committed or over $1 billion, confirmation status as of early 2026 appears ongoing or partial—it’s positioned as one of Tether’s largest AI bets in robotics.
QVAC: This is Tether’s flagship internal AI project—a peer-to-peer, on-device AI platform inspired by Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question.” It runs locally on smartphones targeting accessibility in Africa/South America within 3-5 years to enable decentralized AI agents. It integrates with Tether’s ecosystem, like wallets (WDK) allowing AI agents to handle USDT/Bitcoin transactions.
Ardoino has described it as aiming to become the world’s largest decentralized AI platform, countering centralized big tech. Tether is building AI capabilities with significant GPU resources and hiring aggressively (150+ roles planned over 18 months), including AI filmmakers in Italy and engineers for AI/telecom/data projects.
Investments support “moonshot” ventures in AI, satellites, and data centers for decentralized intelligence. Tether deploys profits from US Treasuries, gold, Bitcoin into these areas for long-term resilience and utility.
AI investments often tie into physical world applications (robotics for industrial/human augmentation) and decentralization (on-device to promote freedom from big tech control). While not all details on every AI stake are public (portfolio is eclectic and ~140 total), public announcements emphasize robotics/AI as high-priority for augmenting human potential and integrating with financial tools.
This positions Tether as an emerging player in AI beyond crypto, leveraging its financial strength for strategic tech bets.