Tether CEO says the firm's AI product will enable peer-to-peer network of AI agents

Tether, the issuer of the leading stablecoin USDT, is expanding its technological footprint with the launch of Tether AI, CEO Paolo Ardoino announced.

Ardoino said the firm is working on an open-source AI runtime that aims to operate on any hardware or device and integrate with crypto payments via Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK). Tether is the issuer of the largest stablecoin by market capitalization — currently around $149 billion.

In a post on X, Ardoino detailed the vision for Tether AI, which he said was coming soon. “A fully open-source AI runtime, capable of adapting and evolving on any hardware and device, no API keys, no central point of failure, fully modular and composable, WDK-infused to enable USDT and Bitcoin payments,” Ardoino said. “Tether AI tech will enable an unstoppable peer-to-peer network of billions of AI agents.”

This comes as AI-related discussions dominate the crypto sector. AI agents powered by LLMs are increasingly used to enable crypto payments and leverage natural language processing to analyze market trends and real-time data.

Tether’s AI project has its own website, Tether.ai, which states that its product will also potentially integrate its peer-to-peer communication app, Keet, as well as other data tools.

Tether has been expanding its reach into the world of artificial intelligence over the past few years. In previous efforts to bolster its AI operations, Tether invested an undisclosed amount in the German data center operator Northern Data in September 2023. Two months later, Tether increased Northern Data’s debt financing to $610 million, among other endeavors, The Block previously reported.