Participants clapped and cheered when Paolo Ardoino, the public face of perhaps most influential company in Crypto, entered the stage at Cantor Fitzgerald Global Technology Conference in New York on Wednesday.

Ardoino stands out from the crowd, not for his wealth, but for his choice of attire. While others dressed to impress, he chose a relaxed look-a light blue Ralph Lauren Polo and Gray Khakis-on despite having probably had the deepest pockets in the room.

“This is my first trip to America,” he began to say. “It’s beautiful. I feel very welcome. “

Ardoino actually avoided the country for a long time. The Italian -born computer scientist until recently mainly focused Tether’s operations in developing regions with financial freedom as the declared goal.

Another reason may be that Tether has been under control by industry leaders as well as US authorities for some time, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), The Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYFSD).

It’s changed. Ardoino has been on a tour of the United States over the past week, sent photos of himself on the US Capitol Building step in Washington DC on Thursday and participated in a four -page chat with Strike CEO Jack Mallers at a Tuesday event organized by the Bitcoin Policy Institute.

The company, which according to Ardoino is run by only 150 employees in 50 countries, settled charges with CFTC and a NEWFS survey in 2021. There have been several reports on a current Department of Justice Department to investigate StableCecoin issuer in the last few years.

“We’ve been through hell,” Ardoino told participants at the conference. “People said that if I came to the United States, I would be arrested … They will try to scare you away.”

“We’re still here, right?”

Following an overview of Tether’s previous success in the StableCoin business-the company reportedly has a $ 13 billion profit in 2024, and its stablecoin, USDT, has over 60% of the market share among stablecoins-vardoino continued to present the current projects that the company is working on, including its efforts on education, AI and Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization.

“The prospects for this year are also wonderful,” Ardoino said.

Ardoin’s US journey came at a time when the US legislator is moving forward to regulate $ 200 billion and fast -growing stableecoin market. Tether dominates the asset class with its $ 143 billion USDT cryptocurrency, followed by US-based competitor circle with its $ 58 billion.

While Tether is an offshore company – it recently announced its intention to establish its headquarters in El Salvador – and has not yet shown interest in formally entering the US crypto market, its ties to the United States are multifaceted.

The company is one of the largest buyers of US debt that has nearly $ 100 billion value of US treasuries and state-sponsored securities as a reserve asset for its USDT token. If it was a country, it would be among the 20 US debt holders. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said during a digital asset summit at the White House on Friday that stablecoins are the key to preserving the US dollar as the dominant reserve currency in the world, an argumentation line that Ardoino declared several occasions before.

The company also got a strong ally in the Trump administration in trade secretary Howard Lutnick, former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, Wall Street Investment Firm, which manages Tether’s US Treasury. The Wall Street Journal reported that Cantor is also investing in Tether’s Holding Company, while Lutnick said during his confirmation hearing that Cantor has Tether -Convertible Bonds but has no equity.

Ardoino said in an interview with Coindesk last year that the company also boarding US agencies such as FBI and Secret Service to its platform in an attempt to fight illegal activities.

On the investment front, Tether became a major shareholder with an investment of $ 775 million in US-listed video sharing platform rumble, popular among us conservative and right-wing users. With Tether’s backing, Rumble CEO Chris Pavloski made plans to introduce a crypto-design book and support payments with USDT, BTC and Tether’s Gold-supported token Xaut.

Pavloski repeatedly called Ardoino while on stage on Wednesday.