Actively expanding AI business, Tether seeks the next "gold mine" after USDT.

Original author: Chloe, PANews

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed the latest Tether Local AI development kit at the ₿ event in Lugano, Switzerland on October 26. This new AI development kit focuses on user privacy and is supported by peer-to-peer technology.

The outstanding feature of Local AI is its versatility, allowing developers to run written code on various devices, from low-cost mobile phones to high-end smartphones, laptops, or large systems equipped with H100 processors. In addition, this technology can be applied to a variety of devices, including smart refrigerators and car entertainment systems.

In March of this year, Tether announced the establishment of a new artificial intelligence department, ‘Tether data’, dedicated to promoting its entry into the field of AI, with the goal of building the next generation of open-source AI models. Led by Paolo Ardoino, the newly established AI department, Tether data, focuses on developing ‘Open Source, multimodal AI models’. This major move aims to increase the accessibility and efficiency of AI for Tether, and to drive the determination of AI and peer-to-peer technology.

Introducing Local AI to Break Through the Application Scope of Traditional Computing Devices

During the recent Lugano Plan ₿ event in Switzerland, Ardoino demonstrated how Local AI surpasses the application scope of traditional computing devices. The software development kit (SDK) can eventually be implemented in smart home appliances, including refrigerators and car entertainment systems, highlighting its wide range of potential applications.

Local AI has a strong emphasis on “local” computing, which means that AI operations are performed by users on their own devices, and uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to allow devices to exchange data directly.

The traditional network architecture is that each image, website, or application will have its own server, and each server will have its own IP address. When we browse the web, we send requests to the server through the IP address to obtain permission, which means that the server controls all the ownership of the users.

P2P is when every user on the network is responsible for storing all or part of the data. In addition to being able to request other IP addresses, they also need to handle requests from others, making themselves servers as well. This is also Tether’s goal in promoting AI and peer-to-peer technology.

One key feature of Local AI is its ability to load and store model weights and fine-tuning data within a P2P framework. This approach ensures that users’ personal sensitive information is secure and reduces reliance on central servers. At the Plan ₿ event, Ardoino demonstrated a fully local and privacy-focused translation application that can run on any device, avoiding sharing personal data with third parties and compatible with various models (such as Marian and Llama). In addition, the foundation of Local AI is based on the Open Source project ‘holepunchto/bare’, which plays a crucial role in its structure.

Assuming that the user is using a translation app developed based on the Local AI SDK, the app can directly obtain updated language models from other users. The user’s personal device can directly share optimized translation results with other devices, and all of this information exchange is encryption, and does not require a central server.

Finally, Tether plans to make the Local AI SDK available as Open Source software after completing comprehensive testing. This move will benefit developers and communities interested in AI and privacy-related technologies, and also marks Tether’s continued expansion of its AI technology products, beyond just stablecoin services.

Last year, we accumulated Computing Power capital to purchase chips, and this year we established a department to expand our AI business.

In 2023, Tether’s annual net profit reached 6.2 billion U.S. dollars. In September last year, Tether made a bold investment in AI hardware, spending 420 million U.S. dollars to purchase 10,000 Nvidia H100 GPU chips, each H100 chip worth about 40,000 U.S. dollars, accounting for approximately 2% of Nvidia’s total annual shipment of 550,000 H100 GPU chips.

And at that time, this transaction was part of Tether’s collaboration with BTC miner Northern Data Group, where Northern Data could obtain a large amount of H100, and Tether could obtain 20% of Northern Data’s shares. Forbes also mentioned that Northern plans to rent these graphics cards to AI startups in urgent need of large Computing Power. This transaction may make Northern Data the largest GPU operator in Europe, apart from Amazon, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle.

In March of this year, Tether announced the establishment of the Tether data department, which focuses on expanding its AI business in several key areas. First, it is the development of Open Source multimodal AI models to establish new industry standards and promote innovation and accessibility of AI technology. In an interview with WIRED, Ardoino mentioned that the concept of ‘Decentralization’ can be applied to different fields, such as AI. We have already seen AI being heavily politicized. We also believe that having a role independent of traditional tech companies (such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google) is very important.

Secondly, Tether data seamlessly integrates AI solutions into products in the market, using technology to solve real-world challenges. Finally, by actively participating in the broader ecosystem through community contributions, Tether data is committed to advancing the open AI field while showcasing its innovative projects.

Ample cash, Tether targets Amazon, Microsoft and Google

In June of this year, Tether released a report stating that its profit in the first half of 2024 was $5.2 billion, with a total reserve of $11.85 billion. After serving as CTO for six years, Ardoino took over as CEO in December last year. Under his leadership, Tether has made significant investments in energy development, BTC Mining, and communication technology in order to achieve investment diversification.

Ardoino said that some of the funds are used to establish a buffer for the USDT reserve, but the rest of the funds are invested in the company’s new venture capital department Tether Evo. The company has acquired a majority stake in the neurotechnology startup Blackrock Neurotech, ‘Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology will become very important in the future, building a brain and computer interface that respects individual privacy, and ensuring that data remains local and not collected by a single company operating platform is also very important,’ Ardoino said in an interview.

In addition, Ardoino also said in an interview that AI is another important area of Tether’s business expansion. Tether’s VC evaluates hundreds of proposals every month, most of which come directly from startups, and has invested about 2 billion US dollars in AI and alternative financial infrastructure. For Tether, investing in AI means not only technological innovation, but also ensuring that the company is always at the forefront of technology.