Tether CTO on USDC depeg: ‘Bitcoin maxis were right all along’

At the Paris Blockchain Week 2023, Tether’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino spoke with Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall to discuss topics like the USD Coin (USDC) breaking its dollar peg and how it highlights the importance of Bitcoin (BTC) and decentralization.

Cointelegraph journalist Joseph Hall with Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino at the Paris Blockchain Week

According to Ardoino, stablecoin issuers should always make sure that their reserves remain protected. The Tether executive believes that a stablecoin issuers job protecting reserves and funds with all its capabilities. Ardoino explained that:

“I think the mistake of our competitor was to leave $3 billion or more that were uninsured sitting in the bank. [...] And I was surprised to see this lack of understanding of risk management from big competitors in the space.”

In addition, the Tether executive explained that they’ve thought that overexposure in a single jurisdiction, which in this case would be the United States, could cause great issues. In the end, this is what happened said Ardoino. He added:

“To us, relying on a diverse set of jurisdictions is extremely important. In decentralization, in distribution, there is more safety.”

When asked what they thought about USDC potentially going to zero, Ardoino pointed out that their firm was not hoping for this to happen. He said that if Tether (USDT) remained as the only stablecoin in the market, the industry would not be an industry. “If you are alone in the industry, it’s not really an industry,” he said.

Related: Rattled crypto industry could emerge stronger after USDC depeg

Apart from the USDC incident, the duo also discussed other issues such as the dollar being a store of value and Bitcoin payments adoption in Lugano, Switzerland. When asked if the US dollar can still be considered a store of value, Ardoino said that this could be the case in some countries. However, the Tether CTO expressed that in terms of storing wealth, Bitcoin is still the best. He explained that:

“I think that Bitcoin is really the ultimate way to hold your own wealth and is the safest way. And I think that if anything, what is happening in this in these months is just, you know, demonstrating that the bitcoiners and Bitcoin maxis were right all along.”

Lastly, the Tether executive also spoke about their firm's collaboration with American clothing brand Guess to bring Bitcoin and Tether payments to retail stores in Lugano. Plan B, which is a joint project between Tether and the City of Lugano, collaborated with Guess to accept Bitcoin and Tether in local stores.

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