The most centralized giant in the crypto world begins to sell the dream of "decentralized AI"

Author: Curry, Deep Tide TechFlow

Original Title: In the AI Industry, a Money-No-Object Tether Has Arrived

Tether earned 13 billion USD in 2024.

You might not have a clear idea of this number. To 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 haven’t even matched 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 collect 1 USD, then use it 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 to attract deposits, but Tether doesn’t. You exchange your money for USDT and hold it, earning zero interest. They use your money to buy US Treasury bonds, earning 7 billion USD in interest in 2024 alone.

150 people managing over 130 billion USD in government bonds, doing nothing but collecting interest directly into their accounts.

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

But with so much money, it has to be spent somewhere. Tether chose a direction:

AI.

And not just investing in a couple of projects to tick the box.

Let’s talk about computing power first.

Running AI requires graphics cards, the more the better, the more expensive the better. Tether lent over 600 million USD 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 two to three thousand dollars each.

This cluster of graphics cards ranks 26th in the global supercomputer TOP500 list. The 600 million USD 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 directly and for free, so anyone can use it.

Then there’s the more sci-fi part.

In April 2024, Tether spent 200 million USD 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. Basically, chips implanted into the human brain, allowing paralyzed people to type, control wheelchairs, and operate robotic arms with their thoughts. It sounds like science fiction, but they’ve been working on it since 2008, eight years before Elon Musk’s Neuralink.

How impressive is this company?

Globally, 35 people have brain-machine interface chips implanted, 31 of whom 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. The brain chip translated his thoughts into speech, producing 62 words per minute.

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

Altogether, Tether has invested nearly 1 billion USD in AI-related fields. Rumor has it they’re also negotiating with a German robotics company, asking for 1.2 billion USD. If successful, total investment could approach 2 billion USD.

What does this mean?

Anthropic raised 3.5 billion USD in funding in 2024. Tether’s investment alone is nearly half of what a reputable top-tier AI company raises in a year.

OpenAI spent 6.7 billion USD on R&D in the first half of 2025. Tether can be a benefactor in the AI circle with just a small fraction of its profits.

Why would a stablecoin company want to get into AI?

We see two possible reasons.

First is anxiety. The Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates, and government bond yields are falling. In 2024, earning 7 billion USD in interest while lying back is possible, but this might not be the case after 2025. The printing press also needs a new story.

Second is 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.

And the most interesting part?

Tether promotes AI with slogans like “decentralization,” “local operation,” and “returning intelligence to individuals.”

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

They decide when to issue tokens, how much reserves they hold. They’ve been around for ten years, with no audits. 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 opening a class to teach people how 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 by 2028. Sam Altman is raising funds everywhere, Dario Amodei is doing the same. The two companies together have lost 10 billion USD and are still spinning stories for investors.

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

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

How to make money? No idea. When to make money? No idea. Can it 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, while 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.