Tether is one of the most important companies in crypto and also one of the most notorious. Its business is going gangbusters as its namesake stablecoin has swollen to over $90 billion in market value, which lets Tether make fat margins in this era of 5.5% Fed rates. But despite this success, the company is still a villain to many who complain of its slippery morals and lack of transparency.
That's why it was interesting to hear firsthand from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, who joined us for Fortune’s Q&A-style Future of Finance series. He shared details about learning to code at the age of 8 in his native Italy, and how he first came to view Bitcoin as a superior form of financial technology. But the most intriguing part to me is what he said about his critics:
