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The Breakdown

Tether Goes Fully American and Doubles Down on Gold

The Breakdown

Blockworks

Business, Investing

4.8806 Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2026

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tether has officially launched its US-compliant stablecoin, USAT, a Genius Act–aligned, Treasury-backed token designed to operate squarely inside the American regulatory perimeter, giving the company a powerful hedge as global rules harden and tokenization accelerates. But the bigger story may be what comes next: Tether’s rapid accumulation of gold, now rivaling central banks and openly framed by CEO Paolo Ardoino as preparation for a fractured monetary order where gold-backed alternatives to the dollar emerge. The episode explores why USAT is less about replacing USDT than expanding optionality, how Tether is positioning itself as a quasi-sovereign financial actor straddling competing systems, and why dire warnings about stablecoin yield draining bank deposits look far less destabilizing when set against the scale of the global financial system. Enjoying this content? SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast: https://pod.link/1438693620 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakdownBW Subscribe to the newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thebreakdown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the discussion: https://discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8 Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownBW

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.

0:09.0

It's a daily podcast on Macro, Bitcoin, and the Big Picture Power Shifts remaking our world.

0:19.0

What's going on, guys? It is Wednesday, January 28th, and today we are talking about Tether, launching their U.S. stable coin. Before we get into that, however, if you are enjoying the breakdown, please go subscribe to it, give it a rating, give it a review, or if you want to dive deeper into the conversation, come join us on the Breakers Discord. You can find a link in the show notes or go to bit.ly slash breakdown pod. Well, friends, Tether has officially launched their U.S. Market Stablecoin, called USAT, the token is fully compliant with the Genius Act, fully backed by U.S. Treasuries, and fully ready to compete for market share. The stable coin launched with $20 million in supply, operating entirely on the Ethereum mainnet. Infrastructure support,

0:54.3

including issuance and redemption, is provided by Anchorage Digital. That means the stablecoin

0:58.5

customers will be able to do business through a domestically regulated bank. Reserve custody

1:02.9

will also be fully domestic provided by Cantor Fitzgerald. Bybit, crypto.com, Krakken,

1:07.6

OkX, and Moonpay have already made the token available at launch.

1:16.5

Bo Hines, former White House advisor turned CEO of TetherU.S. tweeted, the wait is over, the new era of finance begins. While many gave the obvious take that the Staplecoin isn't likely to replace

1:21.1

the original recipe Tether and its $180 billion market cap, it probably doesn't need to.

1:26.2

The intention doesn't seem to be replacement,

1:28.1

but rather a diversification. USAT gives Tether a very powerful hedge for a lot of eventualities.

1:34.1

If another crackdown on offshore stablecoins arrives, Tether already has the infrastructure

1:37.8

set up to go fully domestic. If tokenization takes off in a big way, Tether will be ready

1:42.0

to supply a compliant stable coin to regulated institutions.

1:45.4

It also gives Tether a way to shrug off U.S. regulators while keeping their offshore product

1:49.4

operational. Tether CEO, Paulo Arduino, presented the product as entirely about bringing Tether

1:54.2

into the regulated U.S. financial market. He commented,

1:57.0

USDT has proven for more than a decade that digital dollars can deliver trust,

2:00.9

transparency, and utility at a global scale. USAT extends that mission by providing a federally

2:06.1

regulated product designed for the American market. Jake Brookman, the CEO of Coin Fund,

2:10.4

tweeted, everyone thought regulation would consolidate this market around circle. Instead,

2:14.7

it fragmented it, and Tether is playing in every lane simultaneously.

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