Paolo Ardoino is the CEO of Tether, the company behind the ticker symbol USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin. He also serves as CTO of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and co-founded Holepunch, a platform for peer-to-peer applications. Ardoino holds a Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Genoa and is one of the most visible proponents of improving the banking system with cryptocurrencies.

In this conversation, we discuss:

How Paolo built the infrastructure behind the world’s most used stablecoin and why he believes math, not politics, should govern money
Why he believes Bitcoin is the first form of money governed by math, and how that math could reshape global finance
How USDT became the most used digital dollar by solving practical challenges in regions with limited banking access
Why Paolo believes traditional finance is broken and how decentralized tech offers a more inclusive infrastructure
The case for brain–computer interfaces and why Paolo sees human and AI symbiosis as the next frontier of intelligence
Why he’s optimistic about AI’s role in society, even as he argues that long term AI safety might be an illusion

Resources:

How I Sell Books Independently (No Amazon)