AI Industry, a Wealthy Tether Arrives

By: Curry, Deep Tide TechFlow

Tether earned $13 billion in 2024.

You might not have a clear idea of this number. Let’s put it another way:

OpenAI’s revenue in 2024 was $3.7 billion, but it lost $5 billion.
Anthropic’s revenue was $1 billion, and it also lost $5 billion.

The combined losses of these two reputable AI companies are still less than what Tether earned in a year.

Tether has a total of 150 employees, while OpenAI has over 3,000. The per capita output difference is roughly:

60 times.

How does Tether make money? When you buy 1 USDT, they receive 1 USD, which they use to buy US Treasury bonds. The interest from these bonds belongs to them, and has nothing to do with you.

The essence of this is that Tether doesn’t pay interest. Banks need to pay interest for deposits, but Tether doesn’t. You exchange your money for USDT and hold it, earning no interest. They use your money to buy US Treasuries, earning 7 billion in interest in 2024 alone.

150 people manage over $130 billion in US Treasury bonds, doing nothing but collecting interest directly into their accounts.

Anyone would want to lie down and enjoy this kind of business.

But when you have a lot of money, you need to spend it. Tether has chosen a direction:

AI.

And it’s not just investing in a couple of projects to check the box.

First, computing power.

Running AI requires graphics cards, the more the better, the more expensive the better. Tether lent over $600 million to a German company called Northern Data.

What does this company do?

Europe’s largest GPU cloud service provider. Over 10,000 NVIDIA H100 graphics cards, the kind used to train GPT at OpenAI, costing $20,000 to $30,000 each.

This cluster of graphics cards ranks 26th in the global supercomputer TOP500 list. The $600 million Tether invested is basically buying an AI training base in Europe.

Next, data.

Training AI requires feeding data. Last week, Tether released a dataset called QVAC Genesis, covering 19 disciplines including mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer science. They claim it’s the world’s largest open-source AI training dataset.

It’s worth noting that the training data for OpenAI and Anthropic is not publicly available. Tether releases it for free, anyone can use it.

Then there’s the more sci-fi part.

In April 2024, Tether spent $200 million to acquire a company called Blackrock Neurotech. The name has Blackrock in it, but it’s not related to BlackRock.

This company develops brain-machine interfaces. They implant chips into the human brain, allowing paralyzed people to type, control wheelchairs, and operate robotic arms with their minds. It sounds like science fiction, but they started in 2008, eight years before Elon Musk’s Neuralink.

How impressive is this company?

A total of 35 people worldwide have brain-machine interface chips implanted, 31 of which use Blackrock’s technology. In 2016, a fully paralyzed patient used their device to control a robotic arm and fist-bumped Obama. The chip in his sensory cortex allowed him to “feel” the president’s hand.

Last year, this brain-machine interface company helped a patient with ALS “speak” again, translating his thoughts into speech at a rate of 62 words per minute.

Tether spent $200 million and became a major shareholder in this company.

Altogether, Tether has invested nearly $1 billion in AI-related fields. It’s also reportedly negotiating with a German robotics company, asking for $1.2 billion. If successful, total investment could approach $2 billion.

What’s the concept here?

Anthropic raised $3.5 billion in funding in 2024. Tether’s investment alone is nearly half of what a major AI company typically raises.

OpenAI spent $6.7 billion on R&D in the first half of 2025. Tether’s profits are enough to be a benefactor in the AI circle.

Why would a stablecoin company want to do AI?

We see two possible reasons.

First, anxiety. The Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates, and US Treasury yields are falling. Earning $7 billion in interest in 2024 might not be possible in 2025 and beyond. Even the printing press needs a new story.

Second, ambition. Everyone is talking about AI, investors, media, politicians. If you say you’re a stablecoin company, no one pays much attention. But if you say you’re working on AI, brain-machine interfaces, humanoid robots—that makes you:

a tech leader.

What’s the most interesting part?

Tether’s slogan for AI is “decentralization,” “local operation,” and “returning intelligence to individuals.”

But Tether itself is the most centralized company in the crypto world.

Issuing tokens is decided by them, the reserve amount is decided by them. It’s been ten years without an audit. Only they know where the users’ money is.

Such a company now wants to teach the world what “decentralized AI” really means.

It’s a bit like a casino boss running a class to teach people to quit gambling.

It’s not impossible.

After all, OpenAI is still losing money, expected to stop burning cash by 2029. Anthropic is similar, projected to break even around 2028.

Sam Altman is raising funds everywhere, Dario Amodei is raising funds everywhere.

Both companies have lost a total of $10 billion and are still telling stories to investors.

Tether doesn’t need to tell stories. The money is already in their pocket.

What is the biggest challenge in the entire AI industry? Business model.

How to make money? No idea.
When to make money? No idea.
Can they make money? No idea.

Tether doesn’t have this problem. Its business model is:
not doing AI.

The profits from stablecoins are used to invest in AI. If the investment is right, it’s foresight; if wrong, it’s tuition. Anyway, it doesn’t affect their main business.

AI companies are losing money, non-AI companies are making money.
AI companies are raising funds, non-AI companies are investing.

The best AI business model in 2026 might be: don’t do AI.

First, get the printing press in order.

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