1 00:00:00,450 --> 00:00:03,960 Joel Comm: There's a lot of questions surrounding Tether, the third largest 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,530 Joel Comm: crypto by market cap with the collapse of USD. People 3 00:00:07,530 --> 00:00:10,289 Joel Comm: want to be sure that there is liquid backing. Dollar 4 00:00:10,289 --> 00:00:15,210 Joel Comm: for dollar Behind USD 80 is the world's biggest stablecoin 5 00:00:15,210 --> 00:00:18,930 Joel Comm: too big to fail? Today we welcome the Chief technology 6 00:00:18,930 --> 00:00:22,560 Joel Comm: officer of Tether, Paolo Arduino to the show to ask 7 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,610 Joel Comm: these tough questions. We also discuss FTC's audits and the 8 00:00:26,610 --> 00:00:30,690 Joel Comm: future of cryptos in general. We're a fairly stable podcast 9 00:00:30,690 --> 00:00:35,490 Joel Comm: with unstable podcast hosts. Hopefully our guests can bring some 10 00:00:35,490 --> 00:00:41,460 Joel Comm: stability to the show. On this episode, number 655. Of 11 00:00:41,460 --> 00:00:42,840 Joel Comm: the Bad Crypto podcast. 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:44,420 Travis Wright: Five, four. 13 00:00:44,850 --> 00:00:52,320 Travis Wright: Three. Ask are there all of the actors whose bad? 14 00:01:11,270 --> 00:01:13,640 Joel Comm: I'm feeling unstable. 15 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:19,649 Travis Wright: Somebody hodl me. Is anything new? Yeah. You're not stable. 16 00:01:19,670 --> 00:01:21,949 Travis Wright: Neither one of us are stable. This is the world's 17 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,960 Travis Wright: most unstable crypto currency podcast. Unstable for five and a 18 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:28,429 Travis Wright: half years of instability. 19 00:01:28,850 --> 00:01:31,970 Joel Comm: Wow. Welcome to the Bad Crypto podcast. We are the 20 00:01:31,970 --> 00:01:37,309 Joel Comm: metaverse morons, the web3 weenies, the algorithmic asshats, the bad 21 00:01:37,310 --> 00:01:40,490 Joel Comm: crypto bad asses, duck, duck going stuff so you don't 22 00:01:40,490 --> 00:01:44,419 Joel Comm: have to. And we are really excited about today's show 23 00:01:44,420 --> 00:01:48,050 Joel Comm: because it's rare that you get sea level people from 24 00:01:48,050 --> 00:01:51,130 Joel Comm: the big cryptos to come on the show to to 25 00:01:51,170 --> 00:01:53,810 Joel Comm: talk about what's going on. We've tried to reach out 26 00:01:53,810 --> 00:01:58,400 Joel Comm: to the CEO of Bitcoin. No response. You know, so 27 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,010 Joel Comm: maybe one day that'll happen. I don't know. 28 00:02:01,430 --> 00:02:04,370 Travis Wright: Yeah, this one's going to answer some questions because we 29 00:02:04,370 --> 00:02:07,310 Travis Wright: test some on some some pretty interesting topics with this guy, 30 00:02:07,310 --> 00:02:09,680 Travis Wright: because I know a lot of people are thinking, wow, 31 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,010 Travis Wright: is is USD, is tether, is it stable? Is it 32 00:02:13,010 --> 00:02:15,380 Travis Wright: going to last the long run? What's going to happen? 33 00:02:15,380 --> 00:02:18,350 Travis Wright: Is it going to crash? And so we cover some 34 00:02:18,350 --> 00:02:22,369 Travis Wright: of that today with the CTO of Tether who assures 35 00:02:22,370 --> 00:02:24,920 Travis Wright: us that maybe or maybe not. We'll see. Awesome. 36 00:02:25,370 --> 00:02:28,700 Joel Comm: Well, you believe him? Let's find out. Here we go. 37 00:02:32,610 --> 00:02:37,440 Joel Comm: I guess you can say we're a stable podcast hosted 38 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,260 Joel Comm: by unstable people because we've been doing this five and 39 00:02:40,260 --> 00:02:41,220 Joel Comm: a half years now. Trevor. 40 00:02:42,780 --> 00:02:44,190 Travis Wright: So which one's the stable one? 41 00:02:44,970 --> 00:02:45,810 Joel Comm: Clearly, Me. 42 00:02:46,470 --> 00:02:47,640 Travis Wright: Clearly it. 43 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,220 Joel Comm: Is. Is there really? Is that even up for debate? 44 00:02:50,490 --> 00:02:53,430 Travis Wright: I seem pretty stable. I mean, I'm definitely more more, 45 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:55,200 Travis Wright: you know, steady. 46 00:02:55,500 --> 00:02:57,959 Joel Comm: I expect you to break out in a re any second. 47 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,540 Travis Wright: I'm not. I'm not in that easily offended. Thank you. 48 00:03:02,190 --> 00:03:05,130 Joel Comm: Well, as long as we're talking about stable, one of 49 00:03:05,130 --> 00:03:09,480 Joel Comm: the most controversial subjects in the crypto world has been 50 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:14,160 Joel Comm: stable coins, and one of the coins has been in 51 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,660 Joel Comm: the spotlight again and again with lots of questions surrounding 52 00:03:18,660 --> 00:03:22,920 Joel Comm: it in spite of its massive adoption. Of course, we're 53 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:26,970 Joel Comm: talking about USD tether and today we are privileged to 54 00:03:26,970 --> 00:03:32,340 Joel Comm: have with us the CTO of Tether, Mr. Paolo Arduino. Paolo, 55 00:03:32,340 --> 00:03:33,840 Joel Comm: thanks for coming on Bad crypto. 56 00:03:34,470 --> 00:03:35,910 Paolo Ardoino: Hey guys. Thank you for having me. 57 00:03:36,630 --> 00:03:38,880 Joel Comm: Absolutely. Why don't you go ahead and give us a 58 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,940 Joel Comm: little bit of your history in crypto and how you 59 00:03:41,940 --> 00:03:43,320 Joel Comm: came to be with Tether. 60 00:03:44,370 --> 00:03:47,190 Paolo Ardoino: Sure. So I started coding in a very young age. 61 00:03:48,610 --> 00:03:52,060 Paolo Ardoino: So I started cutting since I was eight years old 62 00:03:52,510 --> 00:03:56,470 Paolo Ardoino: and it kept kept growing in me. The Passion always 63 00:03:56,470 --> 00:04:03,490 Paolo Ardoino: excited about privacy, could top WiFi, distributed applications and the 64 00:04:03,490 --> 00:04:07,720 Paolo Ardoino: power of computing. So, you know, initially at the beginning 65 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,880 Paolo Ardoino: of my career worked on a super cool communication system 66 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,979 Paolo Ardoino: for battlefields, for, you know, client communications in battlefields and then, 67 00:04:17,980 --> 00:04:20,979 Paolo Ardoino: you know, was in Italy, didn't pay much. So I 68 00:04:20,980 --> 00:04:24,909 Paolo Ardoino: moved to finance. To, you know, trying to make up 69 00:04:24,930 --> 00:04:29,409 Paolo Ardoino: the living. And so started working for a few hedge funds, 70 00:04:29,410 --> 00:04:33,630 Paolo Ardoino: started to build software for them, understanding all the intricacies, 71 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:38,650 Paolo Ardoino: intricacies of finance. You know, also the bad habits of 72 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:46,450 Paolo Ardoino: finance and the really, really bad infrastructure of traditional financial systems. So, 73 00:04:46,450 --> 00:04:49,120 Paolo Ardoino: you know, it's just to summarize, it is all cash 74 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,550 Paolo Ardoino: buy together, buy rubber and beans. In 2014, I had 75 00:04:54,550 --> 00:04:58,480 Paolo Ardoino: the privilege to start becoming and well becoming one of 76 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,690 Paolo Ardoino: the developers of the Phoenix, just focusing on matching engine. 77 00:05:03,460 --> 00:05:07,270 Paolo Ardoino: The platform was more and more adopted and hence they 78 00:05:07,270 --> 00:05:10,930 Paolo Ardoino: had some sort of lags and issues with the performances 79 00:05:10,930 --> 00:05:13,660 Paolo Ardoino: of their matching engine. So I was asked to, given 80 00:05:13,660 --> 00:05:19,270 Paolo Ardoino: my expertise in parallel computing scalable applications to was asked 81 00:05:19,270 --> 00:05:23,739 Paolo Ardoino: to improve that. And in 2017 I became also the 82 00:05:23,740 --> 00:05:30,250 Paolo Ardoino: CTO of Tether. So taking care of the security side, blockchains, 83 00:05:30,250 --> 00:05:36,930 Paolo Ardoino: integrations and you know swap of multisig and similar. So yeah, 84 00:05:36,940 --> 00:05:40,349 Paolo Ardoino: that is my energy's my story. I'm just a dude 85 00:05:40,350 --> 00:05:40,990 Paolo Ardoino: that codes. 86 00:05:42,010 --> 00:05:46,240 Travis Wright: Dude that codes at some of the highest levels, right? 87 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,570 Travis Wright: And I mean, from what you've done, you know, working 88 00:05:49,570 --> 00:05:52,210 Travis Wright: with the military as a researcher and some of those things, 89 00:05:52,390 --> 00:05:55,540 Travis Wright: learning about cryptography and doing some of those things kind 90 00:05:55,540 --> 00:05:57,400 Travis Wright: of prepared you for where you are today, which is 91 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,300 Travis Wright: an exciting thing. And I think a lot of people, 92 00:06:00,370 --> 00:06:02,830 Travis Wright: they're looking at your background. They're saying, okay, wait a second, 93 00:06:02,830 --> 00:06:07,930 Travis Wright: you're the CTO of Bitfinex and the CTO of Tether. 94 00:06:08,170 --> 00:06:10,810 Travis Wright: How does that work and how does they work together? 95 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:14,470 Paolo Ardoino: Well, and also I'm the CSO that hole punch this 96 00:06:14,470 --> 00:06:18,159 Paolo Ardoino: news amazing peer to peer communication system that we are building. 97 00:06:19,630 --> 00:06:22,890 Joel Comm: That sounds really busy to me. That's like. That's a 98 00:06:22,890 --> 00:06:23,529 Joel Comm: lot of stuff. 99 00:06:23,540 --> 00:06:27,010 Travis Wright: Yeah. That's your DIY mask over there. Yeah. I mean, I. 100 00:06:27,010 --> 00:06:28,810 Joel Comm: Hope you're delegating like crazy. 101 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:34,570 Paolo Ardoino: I'm a control freak. So, but also, yeah, I have 102 00:06:34,570 --> 00:06:38,650 Paolo Ardoino: great teammates, so total delegation, but I like to call 103 00:06:39,220 --> 00:06:42,700 Paolo Ardoino: the shots when it comes to architecture and and security. 104 00:06:43,750 --> 00:06:47,350 Paolo Ardoino: You know, the history of crypto has been told by 105 00:06:47,350 --> 00:06:51,700 Paolo Ardoino: so many hacks that I'm always, you know, scared and always, 106 00:06:51,700 --> 00:06:55,030 Paolo Ardoino: you know, making sure that I can review every single 107 00:06:55,029 --> 00:06:57,490 Paolo Ardoino: line of code that is pushed to the systems to 108 00:06:57,490 --> 00:06:59,500 Paolo Ardoino: make sure that, you know, we we don't have any 109 00:06:59,500 --> 00:07:04,029 Paolo Ardoino: any problems. So. Well, yeah, really. So on the on 110 00:07:04,029 --> 00:07:06,280 Paolo Ardoino: the Bitfinex side, well, we have an amazing team of 111 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:10,120 Paolo Ardoino: engineers and I still the main developer of the machine engine. 112 00:07:11,020 --> 00:07:13,900 Paolo Ardoino: You know, it's kind of one of my passions to 113 00:07:13,900 --> 00:07:16,840 Paolo Ardoino: make sure that we can squeeze as much performance as possible. 114 00:07:17,230 --> 00:07:19,990 Paolo Ardoino: So these with this last update that we published just 115 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,600 Paolo Ardoino: few weeks ago, we were able to go below one 116 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,800 Paolo Ardoino: millisecond of fool around latency. That is quite an achievement 117 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,670 Paolo Ardoino: for a platform that started from crypto right in 2014 118 00:07:30,670 --> 00:07:34,090 Paolo Ardoino: when I joined, we could process only 50 to 100 119 00:07:34,090 --> 00:07:36,380 Paolo Ardoino: or two per second. Now we are basically at 1 120 00:07:36,380 --> 00:07:40,600 Paolo Ardoino: million or third per second, like in 2014 crypto exchanges 121 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:44,980 Paolo Ardoino: where felt like more e-commerce keys for bitcoin rather than, 122 00:07:45,790 --> 00:07:49,100 Paolo Ardoino: you know, our additive trading platforms. And nowadays, while the 123 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,150 Paolo Ardoino: fast forward we hired not just us but the general 124 00:07:52,150 --> 00:07:57,220 Paolo Ardoino: industry hired many professionals from other industries. And now things 125 00:07:57,220 --> 00:08:02,710 Paolo Ardoino: seem quite better from the infrastructure point of view and 126 00:08:02,710 --> 00:08:03,460 Paolo Ardoino: on the other side. 127 00:08:06,100 --> 00:08:09,010 Travis Wright: Did Did you say a million transactions per second? 128 00:08:09,850 --> 00:08:10,390 Paolo Ardoino: That's correct. 129 00:08:10,690 --> 00:08:12,910 Travis Wright: And is that bitfinex or is that tether? 130 00:08:13,690 --> 00:08:16,119 Paolo Ardoino: No, it's bitfinex. So, you know, Dimension Engine is the 131 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,090 Paolo Ardoino: part of the system that takes the orders from the 132 00:08:19,090 --> 00:08:21,970 Paolo Ardoino: different users and matched them. Right. So of course we 133 00:08:21,970 --> 00:08:24,910 Paolo Ardoino: go we go in parallel or multiple. So we have 134 00:08:24,910 --> 00:08:28,300 Paolo Ardoino: one CPU dedicated per trading pair. So you can every 135 00:08:28,300 --> 00:08:32,260 Paolo Ardoino: trading pair can independently use as much performance as possible 136 00:08:32,590 --> 00:08:34,000 Paolo Ardoino: for four per core. 137 00:08:35,020 --> 00:08:38,440 Joel Comm: Well, let's go ahead and get to basics, because there's 138 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:39,790 Joel Comm: a lot of people that might be listening to the 139 00:08:39,790 --> 00:08:42,940 Joel Comm: show that don't even understand how a stablecoin works. So 140 00:08:43,270 --> 00:08:48,550 Joel Comm: give us a basic bird's eye definition of tether and 141 00:08:48,550 --> 00:08:49,420 Joel Comm: how it works. 142 00:08:51,990 --> 00:08:56,160 Paolo Ardoino: Sure. So there is as simple as a dollar and 143 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:00,120 Paolo Ardoino: a blockchain. Now let me expand on that. So that 144 00:09:00,179 --> 00:09:03,030 Paolo Ardoino: I was born in 2014, right? Tetris is the company 145 00:09:03,150 --> 00:09:09,180 Paolo Ardoino: that created the concept of Stablecoins. So the reason of 146 00:09:09,179 --> 00:09:11,880 Paolo Ardoino: two exists of Tether at the beginning was I'm not 147 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,900 Paolo Ardoino: sure how many of you guys that are listening remember 148 00:09:15,900 --> 00:09:23,610 Paolo Ardoino: the crypto sphere and ecosystem in 2014, but definitely was challenging, right? So. 149 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,340 Paolo Ardoino: Bitcoin was traded on four or five top exchanges at 150 00:09:28,340 --> 00:09:34,309 Paolo Ardoino: a time. There was Bitfinex, Kraken, Bitstamp, Coinbase and Okcoin. 151 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:40,310 Paolo Ardoino: And in order to run an exchange or having, you know, 152 00:09:40,309 --> 00:09:43,550 Paolo Ardoino: in a health exchange, you need market makers. But also 153 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,070 Paolo Ardoino: you want to make sure that the price of Bitcoin 154 00:09:46,070 --> 00:09:49,520 Paolo Ardoino: is pretty much the same across all the exchanges. So. 155 00:09:51,460 --> 00:09:54,069 Paolo Ardoino: In August 13 was the first time Bitcoin went above 156 00:09:54,070 --> 00:09:57,370 Paolo Ardoino: $1,000 and you had some exchanges that were trading at 157 00:09:57,370 --> 00:10:01,449 Paolo Ardoino: 1.2 thousand. Other exchanges that were trading $900. Right. Because 158 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:06,040 Paolo Ardoino: there is in for that was that in order to 159 00:10:06,070 --> 00:10:09,580 Paolo Ardoino: keep prices aligned across exchanges you had. You needed to 160 00:10:09,580 --> 00:10:14,559 Paolo Ardoino: have arbitrage reverse arbitrage. You're smart. Those traders that sell 161 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,199 Paolo Ardoino: bitcoin on the exchange where the price is higher and 162 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,330 Paolo Ardoino: buy back on the exchange where the price is lower. 163 00:10:19,570 --> 00:10:21,400 Paolo Ardoino: Of course, when you do that, you have to move 164 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:25,330 Paolo Ardoino: dollars from one exchange to another. And in 2014, moving 165 00:10:25,330 --> 00:10:28,120 Paolo Ardoino: dollars from one exchange to another would take five days. 166 00:10:28,300 --> 00:10:35,110 Paolo Ardoino: So the arbitrage opportunity was basically gone. So the reason 167 00:10:35,140 --> 00:10:39,460 Paolo Ardoino: of tether to exist initially was, okay, let's use this 168 00:10:39,460 --> 00:10:42,790 Paolo Ardoino: pretend technology that Bitcoin created. It was called blockchain and 169 00:10:42,790 --> 00:10:46,860 Paolo Ardoino: why we don't use blockchain to move dollars. So at 170 00:10:46,870 --> 00:10:50,200 Paolo Ardoino: least at that time you could move, well, Bitcoin in 171 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:53,890 Paolo Ardoino: 10 minutes. Bitcoin blockchain is one one block every 10 172 00:10:53,890 --> 00:10:57,820 Paolo Ardoino: minutes pretty much. And we wanted to just use the 173 00:10:57,820 --> 00:11:01,449 Paolo Ardoino: same thing for tether. And so suddenly we could optimized 174 00:11:02,110 --> 00:11:07,750 Paolo Ardoino: the trading markets for four for across exchanges. So that 175 00:11:07,750 --> 00:11:11,500 Paolo Ardoino: is a symptom of a growing and more mature industry. 176 00:11:12,620 --> 00:11:16,580 Paolo Ardoino: And nowadays terror is becoming many more things. Is actually 177 00:11:16,580 --> 00:11:20,120 Paolo Ardoino: an inflation hedge for Turkey, for El Salvador, for, you know, 178 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:24,740 Paolo Ardoino: for Venezuela, for Argentina and so on. So basically, is 179 00:11:25,130 --> 00:11:28,400 Paolo Ardoino: this total monetary base of terror is growing because people 180 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:33,140 Paolo Ardoino: just need to not be subject to the enormous inflation 181 00:11:33,140 --> 00:11:36,380 Paolo Ardoino: due to their, you know, national currency like the Turkish 182 00:11:36,380 --> 00:11:41,420 Paolo Ardoino: for the last 80% year on year to, you know, 183 00:11:41,420 --> 00:11:44,660 Paolo Ardoino: from monetary policies and so on. Right. So is actually 184 00:11:44,660 --> 00:11:47,330 Paolo Ardoino: being used as a way to as a lifeline for 185 00:11:47,330 --> 00:11:51,410 Paolo Ardoino: for many people around the world, especially in virtual markets 186 00:11:51,410 --> 00:11:52,340 Paolo Ardoino: and developing countries. 187 00:11:53,420 --> 00:11:55,790 Travis Wright: Yes. So somebody if they have some Bitcoin, right. Let's 188 00:11:55,790 --> 00:11:57,829 Travis Wright: just say and say, hey, you know what, I think 189 00:11:57,830 --> 00:12:00,560 Travis Wright: the price of Bitcoin is going lower. I'm going to 190 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:04,459 Travis Wright: sell my Bitcoin, But they don't typically sell the Bitcoin 191 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:07,250 Travis Wright: out to their bank account. They normally will put it 192 00:12:07,250 --> 00:12:09,770 Travis Wright: in USD and they're going to put it in Usdc 193 00:12:09,950 --> 00:12:13,489 Travis Wright: or some other stablecoin. Now we've seen what happened to 194 00:12:13,490 --> 00:12:17,780 Travis Wright: USD with Luna, right? We saw how they were overleveraged. 195 00:12:17,780 --> 00:12:21,080 Travis Wright: They didn't have enough. We just went through this horrendous 196 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,689 Travis Wright: thing with FCX. And so I know a lot of 197 00:12:23,690 --> 00:12:26,839 Travis Wright: people are out there right now talking about what happened 198 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:30,410 Travis Wright: if what happens if tether fails? What happens if Tether 199 00:12:30,410 --> 00:12:33,679 Travis Wright: does not have enough in their reserves to get us 200 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:38,030 Travis Wright: through this? Bitcoin we could see sub $5,000 price in 201 00:12:38,030 --> 00:12:42,080 Travis Wright: bitcoin because people wouldn't have a mechanism to easily get out. 202 00:12:42,380 --> 00:12:45,589 Travis Wright: And so I guess my question to you, Paolo, would 203 00:12:45,590 --> 00:12:50,179 Travis Wright: be how do you ensure that tether never goes down? 204 00:12:50,179 --> 00:12:55,160 Travis Wright: Because we need this decentralized stablecoin more than ever because 205 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,059 Travis Wright: we are on the precipice of this technocracy that wants 206 00:12:59,059 --> 00:13:02,120 Travis Wright: to bring in these central bank digital currencies and they 207 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:04,130 Travis Wright: want to get rid of a lot of this crypto stuff. 208 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,440 Travis Wright: So how do we build up the faith and ensure 209 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:07,820 Travis Wright: that tether never crashes? 210 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,890 Paolo Ardoino: Well, just to be clear, Tether has older reserves that 211 00:13:12,890 --> 00:13:16,219 Paolo Ardoino: are extremely liquid, right? So there is a huge difference 212 00:13:16,220 --> 00:13:19,280 Paolo Ardoino: between Terra and, you know, all the other stablecoins that 213 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:24,740 Paolo Ardoino: failed and tether. So with the latest attestation we have seen, 214 00:13:24,740 --> 00:13:30,230 Paolo Ardoino: we have shown that 82.5% of of the assets of 215 00:13:30,230 --> 00:13:34,400 Paolo Ardoino: tether are cash and cash equivalents. We increased the number 216 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,510 Paolo Ardoino: of the exposure to U.S. Treasury bills. You know, all 217 00:13:38,510 --> 00:13:43,080 Paolo Ardoino: that craziness about, you know, the commercial papers. Well, we 218 00:13:43,580 --> 00:13:46,610 Paolo Ardoino: we show to our community that in less than one 219 00:13:46,610 --> 00:13:49,790 Paolo Ardoino: year we could do take the $30 billion that we 220 00:13:49,790 --> 00:13:55,480 Paolo Ardoino: have in in in commercial papers and move everything to U.S. T-bills. Right. 221 00:13:55,490 --> 00:14:00,080 Paolo Ardoino: So tether listen to the community and act in the 222 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:04,820 Paolo Ardoino: best interest of the community. So the rest of the 223 00:14:04,820 --> 00:14:09,830 Paolo Ardoino: remaining 70% of assets are extremely collateralized assets by extremely 224 00:14:09,830 --> 00:14:13,880 Paolo Ardoino: with the collateral being extremely liquid. No FTT, nothing like 225 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:18,710 Paolo Ardoino: that is overly overly collateralized assets. We have displayed also 226 00:14:18,710 --> 00:14:22,700 Paolo Ardoino: with Celsius with all the other companies that blew up. 227 00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:26,600 Paolo Ardoino: That tether has been the only one. Only company being 228 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:33,050 Paolo Ardoino: exposed to these market issues has taken a risk management 229 00:14:33,050 --> 00:14:37,850 Paolo Ardoino: extremely seriously. You know, everyone is looking at obsessed by tether, 230 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,430 Paolo Ardoino: but look at all the companies that are failing, right? 231 00:14:41,450 --> 00:14:44,960 Paolo Ardoino: So all the companies that we are consider the white knights, 232 00:14:45,260 --> 00:14:50,640 Paolo Ardoino: the holy heroes of the crypto industry. And yet, you know, 233 00:14:50,690 --> 00:14:55,820 Paolo Ardoino: they all failed their customers. Tether has older reserves that 234 00:14:55,820 --> 00:15:00,470 Paolo Ardoino: are extremely liquid, was able to process $7 billion in 235 00:15:00,470 --> 00:15:04,910 Paolo Ardoino: redemptions in you know in between the 14 and 15 236 00:15:04,910 --> 00:15:10,100 Paolo Ardoino: of May ensuing 48 hours process $7 billion silver redemption 237 00:15:10,100 --> 00:15:14,210 Paolo Ardoino: that where around 10% of our reserves. No bank in 238 00:15:14,210 --> 00:15:16,670 Paolo Ardoino: the world can do that. The first bank that tried 239 00:15:16,670 --> 00:15:20,060 Paolo Ardoino: to do that was Washington Mutual in 2008, and they 240 00:15:20,060 --> 00:15:26,240 Paolo Ardoino: went belly up that they're adding $20 billion in 30 days. 241 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:32,180 Paolo Ardoino: That was 30, 20, 25% of our reserves. And recently tether, tap, 242 00:15:32,180 --> 00:15:38,480 Paolo Ardoino: redeem always redemption honored no failed to honor single redemption 243 00:15:38,630 --> 00:15:43,250 Paolo Ardoino: all redeem at $1. So I mean we is not 244 00:15:43,250 --> 00:15:45,680 Paolo Ardoino: that we don't have enough information we have a ton 245 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,860 Paolo Ardoino: of information about ourselves out there but also we have 246 00:15:48,860 --> 00:15:52,670 Paolo Ardoino: something that others don't have that are facts, right? So 247 00:15:52,670 --> 00:15:56,360 Paolo Ardoino: we have facts that say that we can redeem what 248 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,990 Paolo Ardoino: people need in cash in dollars. Right. 249 00:15:59,990 --> 00:16:03,430 Joel Comm: So let me let me explain why people are obsessed, Paolo. 250 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,810 Joel Comm: People are obsessed because if you look here at the 251 00:16:05,810 --> 00:16:08,600 Joel Comm: crypto market, cap tether is the number three in crypto 252 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,710 Joel Comm: market cap with a market cap of $65 billion ahead 253 00:16:12,710 --> 00:16:17,390 Joel Comm: of U.S. DC, which is at 44 billion. On your website, 254 00:16:17,390 --> 00:16:21,530 Joel Comm: you talk about transparency and say, Here's how we're backed. 255 00:16:21,710 --> 00:16:26,390 Joel Comm: But the audit is is still not happening. This article 256 00:16:26,390 --> 00:16:30,440 Joel Comm: in Cointelegraph goes back to July of 2021. Tether Promises 257 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,860 Joel Comm: Audit in months as Paxos claims USD is not a 258 00:16:33,860 --> 00:16:37,580 Joel Comm: real stablecoin. So this was more than a year ago. 259 00:16:37,730 --> 00:16:40,750 Joel Comm: So I went looking. All right. Has any information been released? 260 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,420 Joel Comm: I ended up at BLOCK Works and the page that 261 00:16:44,630 --> 00:16:47,660 Joel Comm: the headline is Tether Pushes Back Timeline and Audit Report. 262 00:16:48,020 --> 00:16:50,600 Joel Comm: I get a four or four. It's gone from the website, 263 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,230 Joel Comm: so I had to go to archive.org to find the 264 00:16:54,230 --> 00:16:57,920 Joel Comm: actual article that was captured but is no longer there. 265 00:16:58,100 --> 00:17:01,580 Joel Comm: Where were you said that you promise a full review 266 00:17:01,580 --> 00:17:05,590 Joel Comm: of its books and the timeline is being pushed back. 267 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:07,790 Joel Comm: Of course, you're the you're the guy they go to 268 00:17:08,060 --> 00:17:11,090 Joel Comm: for this in which you said it was likely months 269 00:17:11,090 --> 00:17:15,350 Joel Comm: away still. So the question is, is why is this 270 00:17:15,350 --> 00:17:18,440 Joel Comm: taking so long to get an audit? 271 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,360 Paolo Ardoino: Right. Let's unpack that. Right. So you you rightfully express 272 00:17:24,710 --> 00:17:27,170 Paolo Ardoino: the opinion that a few people in the industry have. Right. 273 00:17:27,170 --> 00:17:30,889 Paolo Ardoino: So let's look at the first thing. So no other 274 00:17:30,890 --> 00:17:35,930 Paolo Ardoino: out there. Stablecoin has audits. The industry standard is attestations, 275 00:17:35,930 --> 00:17:38,630 Paolo Ardoino: so I think is unfair to single us out. That 276 00:17:38,630 --> 00:17:41,660 Paolo Ardoino: is the first thing. Second thing is, yes, we are 277 00:17:41,660 --> 00:17:44,150 Paolo Ardoino: working on an audit. First of all, a few months 278 00:17:44,150 --> 00:17:48,500 Paolo Ardoino: ago is around three months ago we moved from our 279 00:17:48,500 --> 00:17:54,770 Paolo Ardoino: accounting company. That was more common, right was top well, 280 00:17:54,770 --> 00:17:57,950 Paolo Ardoino: was the 12th biggest company in the world to a 281 00:17:57,950 --> 00:18:01,070 Paolo Ardoino: top five company in the world that is just out 282 00:18:01,070 --> 00:18:05,540 Paolo Ardoino: the first one outside a big four companies right that 283 00:18:05,540 --> 00:18:09,909 Paolo Ardoino: two attestations that the accounting. So we actually have the 284 00:18:09,910 --> 00:18:13,360 Paolo Ardoino: company that does accounting, that does at the stations that 285 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:19,179 Paolo Ardoino: is the most reputable among the others Stablecoins. So also 286 00:18:19,180 --> 00:18:22,449 Paolo Ardoino: we are working. So I will let before we go there, 287 00:18:22,450 --> 00:18:25,090 Paolo Ardoino: let me explain why doing an audit with also a 288 00:18:25,090 --> 00:18:30,550 Paolo Ardoino: big four is so difficult. Because we have contacted them 289 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,530 Paolo Ardoino: and we try to work with a few of them 290 00:18:32,540 --> 00:18:35,630 Paolo Ardoino: of the big four. And the issue is that without 291 00:18:35,630 --> 00:18:39,950 Paolo Ardoino: having clear regulations on stablecoins, they don't want to take 292 00:18:40,250 --> 00:18:43,080 Paolo Ardoino: the risk for them. Is there a potential reputational risk? 293 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:48,139 Paolo Ardoino: So how you can fully audit something that you don't 294 00:18:48,140 --> 00:18:52,490 Paolo Ardoino: know exactly how you should own it, right? Because if 295 00:18:52,490 --> 00:18:55,880 Paolo Ardoino: there is no regulator, be great. It of course that 296 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,790 Paolo Ardoino: tells you how many we each type of reserves are allowed, 297 00:18:58,790 --> 00:19:00,770 Paolo Ardoino: how many reserves, what is the type of backing that 298 00:19:00,770 --> 00:19:03,379 Paolo Ardoino: is allowed? What is there processes that you should allow 299 00:19:03,380 --> 00:19:07,580 Paolo Ardoino: and so on. Let that takes enormous risk on the 300 00:19:07,580 --> 00:19:10,700 Paolo Ardoino: shoulders of the big four. So they have too much 301 00:19:10,700 --> 00:19:13,340 Paolo Ardoino: to lose I think is unfair, but it is what 302 00:19:13,340 --> 00:19:17,510 Paolo Ardoino: it is. We got this exact answer now. We believe 303 00:19:17,510 --> 00:19:21,260 Paolo Ardoino: that with video and there are right now, right now 304 00:19:21,260 --> 00:19:25,129 Paolo Ardoino: other companies interested in proceeding with the audit is not 305 00:19:25,130 --> 00:19:27,410 Paolo Ardoino: that we didn't try it. We are ready and we're 306 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:34,250 Paolo Ardoino: working towards it. We have again, we changed our accounting 307 00:19:34,250 --> 00:19:37,790 Paolo Ardoino: company just to prove that we can raise the bar, 308 00:19:38,210 --> 00:19:42,130 Paolo Ardoino: and that is that remains our top priority. So again, 309 00:19:42,140 --> 00:19:45,830 Paolo Ardoino: is not something that only is this is not just 310 00:19:45,859 --> 00:19:49,010 Paolo Ardoino: our issue is an issue of the industry and definitely 311 00:19:49,010 --> 00:19:51,980 Paolo Ardoino: have the accident didn't help. Right. So the more you 312 00:19:51,980 --> 00:19:55,070 Paolo Ardoino: make it a step forward, the more people are scared 313 00:19:55,070 --> 00:19:59,420 Paolo Ardoino: because you said, well, we have this claim to have 314 00:19:59,420 --> 00:20:04,340 Paolo Ardoino: a gap audit. FDX was, you know, so regulated and 315 00:20:04,340 --> 00:20:08,149 Paolo Ardoino: look what happened. So I can tell you that auditors 316 00:20:08,150 --> 00:20:11,600 Paolo Ardoino: are scared. So it takes time. You know, I'm the 317 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:15,190 Paolo Ardoino: first one to say that unfortunately, is taking more time 318 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,109 Paolo Ardoino: than what we wanted. We are not alone in not 319 00:20:18,109 --> 00:20:20,540 Paolo Ardoino: having an audit. And also the guys that claim to 320 00:20:20,540 --> 00:20:24,020 Paolo Ardoino: have an audit, you know, they went belly up. So 321 00:20:25,730 --> 00:20:30,440 Paolo Ardoino: in this way, the auditing firms are extremely scared. And 322 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,720 Paolo Ardoino: so we need now to regain the trust for an 323 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:33,680 Paolo Ardoino: entire industry. 324 00:20:34,890 --> 00:20:40,770 Joel Comm: So you understand why it looks questionable to people, because, 325 00:20:41,100 --> 00:20:43,830 Joel Comm: you know, this is not the first time there's been 326 00:20:43,830 --> 00:20:49,500 Joel Comm: something that's that's happened that that's questionable. The attestation that 327 00:20:49,740 --> 00:20:52,439 Joel Comm: was done by tether probably before you came on in 328 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:57,810 Joel Comm: 2017 showed that Bitfinex, which is a sister company, transferred 329 00:20:57,810 --> 00:21:01,980 Joel Comm: 382 million to the bank account just before the attestation 330 00:21:01,980 --> 00:21:05,550 Joel Comm: took place and you guys settled the case. Nobody admitted 331 00:21:05,550 --> 00:21:08,280 Joel Comm: or denied. You know, the allegations were true or not, 332 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,940 Joel Comm: but it's certainly suspicious. And that's I think that's why 333 00:21:11,940 --> 00:21:15,510 Joel Comm: people are rightfully so concerned to ask these questions. 334 00:21:16,859 --> 00:21:21,180 Travis Wright: I'm not so. The beauty of the beauty is that 335 00:21:21,180 --> 00:21:24,480 Travis Wright: people should be allowed to ask questions and answers should 336 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:29,220 Travis Wright: be given. Right. So I'm not annoyed by people asking question. 337 00:21:29,220 --> 00:21:33,900 Travis Wright: Absolutely not. What I'm saying is that this industry, you know, 338 00:21:33,900 --> 00:21:39,480 Travis Wright: my you know, my scene, that everything is easy from 339 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,710 Travis Wright: the outside. But we have fought both with Tether, with bitfinex, 340 00:21:43,710 --> 00:21:46,860 Travis Wright: with hole punch, which seen for the industry more than 341 00:21:46,859 --> 00:21:49,770 Travis Wright: anyone else and why. And everyone was looking at us. 342 00:21:50,310 --> 00:21:53,580 Travis Wright: Many other companies failed. So what I'm saying is that 343 00:21:53,580 --> 00:21:58,140 Travis Wright: questions are always fine, right? So, absolutely. But the problem 344 00:21:58,140 --> 00:22:02,200 Travis Wright: is that what I find I'm finding myself and a 345 00:22:02,250 --> 00:22:04,800 Travis Wright: little bit bitching about it is like being single out 346 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,220 Travis Wright: or like being like that. This black sheep, when you 347 00:22:08,220 --> 00:22:10,890 Travis Wright: know all the mighty heroes are failing around. 348 00:22:11,700 --> 00:22:14,010 Travis Wright: I don't know that they're necessarily going after you or 349 00:22:14,010 --> 00:22:17,490 Travis Wright: targeting you like that. They're just trying to see transparency 350 00:22:17,490 --> 00:22:21,210 Travis Wright: within the space. Right. And my thing would be this 351 00:22:21,210 --> 00:22:23,729 Travis Wright: is that I don't know how what tethers do or 352 00:22:23,730 --> 00:22:26,850 Travis Wright: if they're doing anything wrong. I trust tether I have USD. 353 00:22:27,060 --> 00:22:30,149 Travis Wright: If it collapsed, I would be very sad boy. Right. 354 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,110 Travis Wright: But what I would like to see is some sort 355 00:22:34,109 --> 00:22:38,219 Travis Wright: of proof of transparency within exchanges, right? So it could 356 00:22:38,220 --> 00:22:42,780 Travis Wright: be pretty pot proof of transparency. And any time I'd 357 00:22:42,780 --> 00:22:45,480 Travis Wright: like to look at and see, oh look you know 358 00:22:45,990 --> 00:22:49,979 Travis Wright: tether has this Binance has the oh look the USD 359 00:22:50,130 --> 00:22:53,040 Travis Wright: are USD. Oh I can look and see and it's 360 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:57,200 Travis Wright: almost like this power if you know in my mind. Right. 361 00:22:57,210 --> 00:22:59,160 Travis Wright: And I think a lot of people's mind is if 362 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,409 Travis Wright: I give you $10,000 or I'm buying tether with $10,000, 363 00:23:02,410 --> 00:23:05,669 Travis Wright: that $2,000 just going to a bank account or something. Right. 364 00:23:05,670 --> 00:23:07,920 Travis Wright: So you could almost be like, oh, we have $65 365 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:12,390 Travis Wright: million our and there it is. And I, I probably 366 00:23:12,390 --> 00:23:16,230 Travis Wright: shouldn't be so hard if those are the off those 367 00:23:16,230 --> 00:23:21,150 Travis Wright: deposited funds from users are there and not in distributed places. 368 00:23:21,150 --> 00:23:24,720 Travis Wright: That's why a layman would look at that and say, so, 369 00:23:24,750 --> 00:23:27,989 Travis Wright: you know, $65 billion worth of assets, there should be 370 00:23:27,990 --> 00:23:31,470 Travis Wright: $65 billion over here, as long as there's not fractional 371 00:23:31,470 --> 00:23:34,200 Travis Wright: reserve banking going on of some sort and leverage. 372 00:23:34,740 --> 00:23:36,660 Paolo Ardoino: Can I So let me answer to that. Well, we 373 00:23:36,660 --> 00:23:38,790 Paolo Ardoino: have the at the station so people diminish the value 374 00:23:38,790 --> 00:23:41,070 Paolo Ardoino: of the at the station. Yet this station shows exactly 375 00:23:41,070 --> 00:23:44,100 Paolo Ardoino: what we have. Right. The difference between us, the station 376 00:23:44,100 --> 00:23:46,949 Paolo Ardoino: and food audit is that the audit shows also the 377 00:23:46,950 --> 00:23:50,460 Paolo Ardoino: attestation is more punctual, right? We are doing every three months. 378 00:23:50,700 --> 00:23:52,889 Paolo Ardoino: We are trying to make it and we are improving 379 00:23:52,890 --> 00:23:56,220 Paolo Ardoino: our processes to make more, to make it faster so 380 00:23:56,220 --> 00:24:00,000 Paolo Ardoino: that we can read this, release it month. Right? So 381 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,060 Paolo Ardoino: we started from three months and it was taking 45 382 00:24:03,060 --> 00:24:07,020 Paolo Ardoino: to 50 days to do the attestation and to collect 383 00:24:07,020 --> 00:24:09,389 Paolo Ardoino: all the information and provide the information to the auditors 384 00:24:09,390 --> 00:24:12,270 Paolo Ardoino: and do the attestation. Now we are going below the 385 00:24:12,270 --> 00:24:14,970 Paolo Ardoino: 30 days so that we can release this monthly. So 386 00:24:14,970 --> 00:24:17,550 Paolo Ardoino: it's not like we don't have anything. We have exactly 387 00:24:17,550 --> 00:24:20,460 Paolo Ardoino: what the other stablecoins have. And also we if you 388 00:24:20,460 --> 00:24:23,760 Paolo Ardoino: look at the length and the details of our attestation 389 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,760 Paolo Ardoino: is much is far higher than the others. Also, we 390 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,040 Paolo Ardoino: did the very same thing with Bitfinex. With the next 391 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,640 Paolo Ardoino: we release the proof of reserve. So we showed, we 392 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,389 Paolo Ardoino: displayed and we provide all the hot and cold wallet 393 00:24:36,390 --> 00:24:41,550 Paolo Ardoino: addresses of bitfinex. And also we have developed ourself a 394 00:24:41,550 --> 00:24:45,149 Paolo Ardoino: tool I developed with a couple of guys myself, a 395 00:24:45,150 --> 00:24:49,170 Paolo Ardoino: tool called Anthony, that also does proof of liabilities with 396 00:24:49,170 --> 00:24:53,640 Paolo Ardoino: a merkle, with a Merkle tree, and we'd bring signature 397 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,810 Paolo Ardoino: type style of, of, of accounting so that people with 398 00:24:57,810 --> 00:25:01,740 Paolo Ardoino: privacy can verify that what we claimed it should have 399 00:25:01,740 --> 00:25:05,129 Paolo Ardoino: in the in the in the assets is effectively on bitfinex. 400 00:25:05,670 --> 00:25:09,179 Paolo Ardoino: So I agree that the transparency of this industry should 401 00:25:09,180 --> 00:25:13,080 Paolo Ardoino: keep crazy that I'm I'm battling with that I'm working 402 00:25:13,380 --> 00:25:17,910 Paolo Ardoino: also I'm helping my team to achieve that. So I again, 403 00:25:17,910 --> 00:25:21,300 Paolo Ardoino: I'm not saying that we shouldn't be more transparent and 404 00:25:21,630 --> 00:25:26,490 Paolo Ardoino: more transparent. The market transparency shouldn't be asked to everyone 405 00:25:26,490 --> 00:25:30,090 Paolo Ardoino: in this industry. One is right, has the right to 406 00:25:30,090 --> 00:25:33,990 Paolo Ardoino: be scared, especially in this moment. So not saying not to. 407 00:25:34,060 --> 00:25:36,730 Paolo Ardoino: What you are, what they are claim. I'm explaining the 408 00:25:36,730 --> 00:25:40,570 Paolo Ardoino: journey that we had in order to achieve what we 409 00:25:40,570 --> 00:25:44,439 Paolo Ardoino: have today. And also, I'm saying that the journey is 410 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:45,340 Paolo Ardoino: not finished yet. 411 00:25:45,609 --> 00:25:49,119 Joel Comm: Well, we're definitely working for, you know, everybody in the 412 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:53,740 Joel Comm: crypto space to to win. We need for USD and 413 00:25:53,740 --> 00:25:59,440 Joel Comm: usdc to survive and not fall apart. Right? So that's 414 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,350 Joel Comm: what we want. But you know, to, to your point 415 00:26:02,350 --> 00:26:10,929 Joel Comm: about attestations, FCX certainly had their attestations, but they were B.S.. Right. 416 00:26:10,940 --> 00:26:16,300 Joel Comm: So the an external audit from a third party definitely 417 00:26:16,300 --> 00:26:21,010 Joel Comm: adds credibility in value. And so you're saying it's likely 418 00:26:21,010 --> 00:26:23,590 Joel Comm: months away. Can you give us like what is a 419 00:26:23,590 --> 00:26:27,010 Joel Comm: drop dead date that you think we can expect to 420 00:26:27,010 --> 00:26:27,670 Joel Comm: see this? 421 00:26:28,330 --> 00:26:32,080 Paolo Ardoino: So first of all, FTX claimed to have a gap 422 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:37,450 Paolo Ardoino: audit not an attestation made by a third party. So what 423 00:26:37,450 --> 00:26:43,359 Paolo Ardoino: I'm saying is that. All these. So attestations audits are 424 00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:48,159 Paolo Ardoino: extremely important, but also it's important to have facts. So 425 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,609 Paolo Ardoino: the first time someone withdrew from FDX, they went belly 426 00:26:51,609 --> 00:26:55,510 Paolo Ardoino: up because they didn't have the funds. Tether was able 427 00:26:55,510 --> 00:27:01,600 Paolo Ardoino: to redeem $7 million in two days and was able 428 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,980 Paolo Ardoino: to redeem $20 billion in 30 days. Plus, we did 429 00:27:06,250 --> 00:27:09,659 Paolo Ardoino: five $6 billion in the last week or so. Right. 430 00:27:09,670 --> 00:27:14,050 Paolo Ardoino: So the most important so we didn't just prove that 431 00:27:14,050 --> 00:27:17,010 Paolo Ardoino: tether is solid, right? We also proved that the bank, 432 00:27:17,020 --> 00:27:21,460 Paolo Ardoino: our banks are solid. We also proved that our KYC 433 00:27:21,460 --> 00:27:24,100 Paolo Ardoino: and email is solid because it's not like, okay, someone 434 00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:26,830 Paolo Ardoino: has already made money and that's safe, right? The biggest 435 00:27:26,830 --> 00:27:30,520 Paolo Ardoino: redemption that we had in one day as a one 436 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:35,320 Paolo Ardoino: single transaction was $700 million. Right. So it means that, 437 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,740 Paolo Ardoino: you know, if the receiving bank will see, you know, 438 00:27:38,180 --> 00:27:42,310 Paolo Ardoino: a wire for $700 billion, we'll likely question what that 439 00:27:42,310 --> 00:27:47,170 Paolo Ardoino: is about. And no questions were asked because the KYC, 440 00:27:47,170 --> 00:27:51,760 Paolo Ardoino: AML processes our reporting to regulators, our ability to work 441 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,760 Paolo Ardoino: with law enforcement. We froze, by the way, also with FDX, 442 00:27:55,420 --> 00:27:58,629 Paolo Ardoino: we were the only stablecoin to act immediately and help 443 00:27:58,990 --> 00:28:04,300 Paolo Ardoino: both Bahamas and other law enforcement agencies to freeze assets immediately. 444 00:28:04,690 --> 00:28:07,889 Paolo Ardoino: And we returned more than $200 million to their two 445 00:28:07,930 --> 00:28:12,340 Paolo Ardoino: illegitimate customers within the last two years due to hacks 446 00:28:12,340 --> 00:28:15,520 Paolo Ardoino: and stuff. Right. We are always there. We understand that 447 00:28:15,790 --> 00:28:20,350 Paolo Ardoino: people are relying on tether. And also, I know that 448 00:28:20,650 --> 00:28:26,590 Paolo Ardoino: you understands the scene for their side. So definitely we 449 00:28:26,590 --> 00:28:29,740 Paolo Ardoino: are working towards an audit to answer your question. I 450 00:28:29,740 --> 00:28:32,350 Paolo Ardoino: don't want to give you a specific date. I don't 451 00:28:32,350 --> 00:28:36,730 Paolo Ardoino: know what will happen with the regulators now with FDX. 452 00:28:37,060 --> 00:28:40,390 Paolo Ardoino: So we'll we'll see. We'll have I'm I'm seeing a 453 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,710 Paolo Ardoino: lot of questions around not just stablecoins crypto in general. 454 00:28:45,020 --> 00:28:50,290 Paolo Ardoino: The committee from regulators will say severely impact our industry. 455 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,320 Paolo Ardoino: So we are going we are going to be and 456 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,320 Paolo Ardoino: we are laser focused on the audit. But it will 457 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:56,830 Paolo Ardoino: take time. 458 00:28:58,780 --> 00:29:01,330 Travis Wright: It. It is interesting. So I would ask this question 459 00:29:01,660 --> 00:29:06,340 Travis Wright: since tether is a stablecoin that's holding all the monies 460 00:29:06,340 --> 00:29:10,270 Travis Wright: sitting there and all stablecoins essentially do that. How do 461 00:29:10,270 --> 00:29:14,229 Travis Wright: those stablecoins actually make money if there is if they're 462 00:29:14,230 --> 00:29:17,170 Travis Wright: not pulling anything from the reserve or pulling any customer 463 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:21,940 Travis Wright: funds and there's no dividends and there's no reinvesting of 464 00:29:21,940 --> 00:29:24,340 Travis Wright: those funds that come in the tether, like what is 465 00:29:24,340 --> 00:29:27,220 Travis Wright: the business model for these stablecoins to make money so 466 00:29:27,220 --> 00:29:29,980 Travis Wright: that they can continue doing what they do? I bet 467 00:29:29,980 --> 00:29:30,910 Travis Wright: people have that question. 468 00:29:31,420 --> 00:29:35,290 Paolo Ardoino: That's a great question. So we have. So in general, 469 00:29:35,290 --> 00:29:39,640 Paolo Ardoino: stablecoins have well that the asset backed stablecoins like that 470 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,010 Paolo Ardoino: and circle and the others. So I'm not talking about 471 00:29:42,010 --> 00:29:46,240 Paolo Ardoino: Terra and you know, and they centralized stablecoins, right? So 472 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,960 Paolo Ardoino: let's focus on the, the biggest asset or the biggest 473 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:55,300 Paolo Ardoino: category of stablecoins that I represent. So we have two 474 00:29:55,300 --> 00:29:59,140 Paolo Ardoino: ways of making revenues because the first thing when you 475 00:29:59,140 --> 00:30:01,330 Paolo Ardoino: you talk with a regulator, the first thing that they 476 00:30:01,330 --> 00:30:04,450 Paolo Ardoino: ask you is, is your business model viable and will 477 00:30:04,450 --> 00:30:09,580 Paolo Ardoino: remain viable. So the first way for us to make 478 00:30:09,580 --> 00:30:13,630 Paolo Ardoino: revenues that is unique to tether is issuances and redemption fees. 479 00:30:13,630 --> 00:30:18,700 Paolo Ardoino: We have ten basis points issuance and redemption fee. That 480 00:30:18,700 --> 00:30:23,020 Paolo Ardoino: is really important because when interest rates are bust, our 481 00:30:23,460 --> 00:30:28,060 Paolo Ardoino: are low. You need to maintain a viable business model. 482 00:30:29,070 --> 00:30:33,280 Paolo Ardoino: The in this moment, interest rates on T-bills are really high, 483 00:30:33,820 --> 00:30:39,010 Paolo Ardoino: approaching almost 4% on, you know, a low maturity like 484 00:30:39,010 --> 00:30:43,060 Paolo Ardoino: 3 to 6 months. And so, you know, you can 485 00:30:43,060 --> 00:30:45,790 Paolo Ardoino: make that calculation, right? So how many assets we are 486 00:30:45,820 --> 00:30:50,770 Paolo Ardoino: have under management and multiply by, you know, 3%, let's say, 487 00:30:50,770 --> 00:30:53,680 Paolo Ardoino: on the worst case scenario. Right. So you can understand 488 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:57,670 Paolo Ardoino: that tether is an extremely profitable business and doesn't need 489 00:30:57,670 --> 00:31:01,300 Paolo Ardoino: to do anything bad in order to make money. We 490 00:31:01,300 --> 00:31:04,810 Paolo Ardoino: don't need to, you know, commingle customer assets. We don't 491 00:31:04,810 --> 00:31:07,960 Paolo Ardoino: need to do crazy things. It's just we hold the 492 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,080 Paolo Ardoino: funds in our bank account. Every time someone wants to 493 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:15,220 Paolo Ardoino: acquire tether, we make money. When someone wants to redeem tether. 494 00:31:15,220 --> 00:31:17,470 Paolo Ardoino: We didn't make money because we need to also guarantee 495 00:31:17,470 --> 00:31:21,130 Paolo Ardoino: that if, for example, last year interest rates were really low, 496 00:31:21,370 --> 00:31:25,209 Paolo Ardoino: we needed to maintain a viable business model. But you 497 00:31:25,210 --> 00:31:29,200 Paolo Ardoino: can see that if someone so issuing $85 billion of 498 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:33,550 Paolo Ardoino: tether that was our peak made $85 million in revenues. Right. 499 00:31:33,550 --> 00:31:35,950 Paolo Ardoino: And so then when people redeem you, make money and 500 00:31:35,950 --> 00:31:38,140 Paolo Ardoino: so and so is import. That is the first part. 501 00:31:38,140 --> 00:31:43,270 Paolo Ardoino: And then again now the biggest money, the biggest returns 502 00:31:43,270 --> 00:31:45,970 Paolo Ardoino: are on the interest rates because they are the ones 503 00:31:45,970 --> 00:31:49,690 Paolo Ardoino: that are providing that. Well, since the Fed increased interest rates, 504 00:31:49,690 --> 00:31:52,870 Paolo Ardoino: now they are not the most prominent part in terms 505 00:31:52,870 --> 00:31:53,350 Paolo Ardoino: of earnings. 506 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,060 Joel Comm: So go ahead, Trav. 507 00:31:57,390 --> 00:32:00,360 Travis Wright: Yeah, I have a question around this. So, you know, 508 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:04,290 Travis Wright: when I pay attention to global politics, right. And I 509 00:32:04,290 --> 00:32:06,810 Travis Wright: do kind of see some things that are happening, it 510 00:32:06,810 --> 00:32:10,350 Travis Wright: looks to me like the dollar is losing power worldwide 511 00:32:10,350 --> 00:32:14,670 Travis Wright: as its reserve currency. Right? It looks like because historically, 512 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,490 Travis Wright: you know, if you wanted to buy oil in your country, 513 00:32:17,490 --> 00:32:20,820 Travis Wright: you have to buy dollars first and then you buy oil. Right. 514 00:32:21,220 --> 00:32:24,450 Travis Wright: And then I saw what was happening with Russia and Ukraine. 515 00:32:24,450 --> 00:32:27,450 Travis Wright: Everyone saw that. But what I saw was the price 516 00:32:27,450 --> 00:32:30,660 Travis Wright: of the of the rupee of the ruble, excuse me, 517 00:32:30,660 --> 00:32:33,960 Travis Wright: was dramatically lower than I thought it should have been. 518 00:32:34,230 --> 00:32:37,320 Travis Wright: I mean, for $1, it was like 115 rubles. And 519 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:39,480 Travis Wright: I was like, Oh, my God, I would take a 520 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:42,480 Travis Wright: lot of my stablecoins right now and put them in 521 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,930 Travis Wright: a rueful stablecoin. And if I had done that, I 522 00:32:45,930 --> 00:32:48,450 Travis Wright: would have doubled my money. I can see that happen, 523 00:32:48,450 --> 00:32:52,170 Travis Wright: but I don't have access to a rubles that is stablecoin. 524 00:32:52,350 --> 00:32:55,740 Travis Wright: I didn't see that I have access to a Chinese stablecoin. 525 00:32:55,740 --> 00:33:01,920 Travis Wright: I don't have access to a Brazilian. The BRICS economies. Brazil, Russia, India, China, 526 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:06,570 Travis Wright: South Africa. I don't have access to Stablecoins in those. 527 00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:09,720 Travis Wright: So when is it going to be a forex component 528 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:12,600 Travis Wright: to this where I could see, I don't know that 529 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,210 Travis Wright: I trust the U.S. dollar. So in my mind, if 530 00:33:15,210 --> 00:33:20,340 Travis Wright: the US dollar collapses, USD would collapse because there's that 531 00:33:20,340 --> 00:33:24,480 Travis Wright: similar or that similar value there. But at that moment 532 00:33:24,510 --> 00:33:26,940 Travis Wright: I would say I'd like to get out of my 533 00:33:26,940 --> 00:33:31,800 Travis Wright: USD moving in the rupee A Rupal didi even the 534 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,510 Travis Wright: Indian one or the Russian one, right? How is that coming? 535 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:37,140 Travis Wright: Is that something we're going to be able to do, 536 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:39,720 Travis Wright: and why is it that we're not able to use 537 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,680 Travis Wright: Stablecoins in other currencies effectively yet? 538 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,250 Paolo Ardoino: So this is a great question. First of all, let 539 00:33:47,250 --> 00:33:50,220 Paolo Ardoino: me tell you that we, in fact, have different flavors 540 00:33:50,220 --> 00:33:54,160 Paolo Ardoino: of tether. So we have tether euro, we have tether 541 00:33:54,180 --> 00:33:58,800 Paolo Ardoino: Chinese yuan offshore and we have tether Mexican pesos and 542 00:33:58,980 --> 00:34:02,400 Paolo Ardoino: we have tether gold. Actually, the reality of things is 543 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:07,650 Paolo Ardoino: that the no one cares about the euro just just 544 00:34:07,650 --> 00:34:12,000 Paolo Ardoino: very openly. No one cares about the other. So the 545 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,700 Paolo Ardoino: point is that, yes, the BRICS are becoming more and 546 00:34:14,700 --> 00:34:18,360 Paolo Ardoino: more powerful, but at least given our experience, especially in 547 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:22,830 Paolo Ardoino: emerging markets, everyone wants the dollar, right? So is they 548 00:34:22,830 --> 00:34:24,959 Paolo Ardoino: don't care about anything else they want. 549 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,450 Travis Wright: Which is so weird to me. That's so weird that 550 00:34:27,450 --> 00:34:30,240 Travis Wright: people don't care about it in the crypto space, knowing 551 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,779 Travis Wright: that the Federal Reserve Bank has never been audited and 552 00:34:33,930 --> 00:34:37,230 Travis Wright: knowing that we could potentially be teetering on this global 553 00:34:37,230 --> 00:34:41,220 Travis Wright: economy craziness right now because, you know, we've seen that 554 00:34:41,219 --> 00:34:44,520 Travis Wright: there's a global margin call in the world. That's crazy. 555 00:34:44,730 --> 00:34:47,220 Travis Wright: We saw that the Bank of England was almost bankrupt. 556 00:34:47,430 --> 00:34:50,580 Travis Wright: There's some crazy shit going down and it's almost like, 557 00:34:50,580 --> 00:34:53,550 Travis Wright: what is the best hedge bet for your crypto? If 558 00:34:53,550 --> 00:34:55,859 Travis Wright: the dollar is not the best bet, why would you 559 00:34:55,860 --> 00:34:58,530 Travis Wright: tie them all up in stablecoins tied to the dollar? 560 00:34:58,710 --> 00:35:01,680 Travis Wright: That's my question. But if you're saying most people don't 561 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,840 Travis Wright: give a shit about that, then that tells me most 562 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:04,890 Travis Wright: people aren't paying attention. 563 00:35:05,850 --> 00:35:08,819 Paolo Ardoino: I agree. Well, actually, the one the only one that 564 00:35:08,820 --> 00:35:12,900 Paolo Ardoino: is working is tether gold. So the gold one is 565 00:35:12,900 --> 00:35:16,319 Paolo Ardoino: well understood. And, you know, there is this sort of 566 00:35:17,340 --> 00:35:21,740 Paolo Ardoino: fight in the crypto war between gold bugs and bitcoiners. Right. 567 00:35:21,750 --> 00:35:24,689 Paolo Ardoino: So but my point at least what I'm seeing is 568 00:35:24,690 --> 00:35:28,080 Paolo Ardoino: that gold is not in competition with Bitcoin. Bitcoin is 569 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,330 Paolo Ardoino: a better version of gold, but actual gold is in 570 00:35:30,330 --> 00:35:33,690 Paolo Ardoino: competition with the dollar and with the other national fiat currencies. 571 00:35:34,170 --> 00:35:37,080 Paolo Ardoino: So that is the thing that actually is working more. 572 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,920 Paolo Ardoino: So we are around $500 million of market cap with 573 00:35:41,070 --> 00:35:43,560 Paolo Ardoino: with tether gold that is not fully backed by. 574 00:35:43,710 --> 00:35:46,770 Travis Wright: What is that USD what is what is the what's the. 575 00:35:46,890 --> 00:35:49,260 Paolo Ardoino: X-A-U-T . 576 00:35:49,260 --> 00:35:51,629 Paolo Ardoino: And u t okay now. All right. 577 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:53,759 Paolo Ardoino: And so basically the. 578 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:55,860 Travis Wright: Dude we've been talking about this one for a long 579 00:35:55,860 --> 00:35:59,070 Travis Wright: time to Joe like, yeah, wow. Okay, we're tied to dollars. 580 00:35:59,070 --> 00:36:01,710 Travis Wright: That's great. But I really wouldn't mind being tied to gold. 581 00:36:02,130 --> 00:36:03,690 Travis Wright: This is not a bad idea. 582 00:36:04,020 --> 00:36:06,690 Joel Comm: Yeah, this is actually the next question I had for you. 583 00:36:06,690 --> 00:36:12,510 Joel Comm: So excellent transition that just happened accidentally. So we're looking 584 00:36:12,510 --> 00:36:16,379 Joel Comm: for audits on USD t, Where is the gold? 585 00:36:17,610 --> 00:36:20,670 Paolo Ardoino: So the goal is actually Switzerland. So the gold is 586 00:36:20,670 --> 00:36:23,910 Paolo Ardoino: purely physical, so we don't hold any gold notes or 587 00:36:23,910 --> 00:36:29,370 Paolo Ardoino: you know, or futures is, is fully in Switzerland so 588 00:36:29,370 --> 00:36:36,270 Paolo Ardoino: is reviewed by how is called I don't recall the 589 00:36:36,270 --> 00:36:37,350 Paolo Ardoino: English term sorry. 590 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:39,830 Joel Comm: Yeah. Them. 591 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:45,320 Paolo Ardoino: Yeah, that's right. Well, and basically it's fully it's all 592 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:49,070 Paolo Ardoino: gold bars, you know, around 400 ounces of pure Troy 593 00:36:49,070 --> 00:36:52,880 Paolo Ardoino: fine gold. And the beauty of it is that you 594 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:56,750 Paolo Ardoino: can actually redeem on four full gold bars. So of course, 595 00:36:56,890 --> 00:37:02,230 Paolo Ardoino: being 400 ounces, you have to redeem for an entire bar. 596 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,180 Paolo Ardoino: We are not going to sue to to start cutting 597 00:37:05,180 --> 00:37:08,569 Paolo Ardoino: the bar. We plan to start using smaller bars for 598 00:37:09,020 --> 00:37:13,759 Paolo Ardoino: allowing smaller redemptions. And we deliver the gold bar anywhere 599 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:18,320 Paolo Ardoino: in Switzerland, of course, for international shipping is is going 600 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:20,850 Paolo Ardoino: to be crazy. So, you know, we can ship only 601 00:37:20,850 --> 00:37:23,089 Paolo Ardoino: in Switzerland and so you can come get your gold 602 00:37:23,090 --> 00:37:26,930 Paolo Ardoino: bar and go away and ship it complying to, you know, 603 00:37:26,930 --> 00:37:28,370 Paolo Ardoino: the rules of your own country. 604 00:37:28,910 --> 00:37:31,670 Travis Wright: Well, you can't take it with you because if you enter that country And 605 00:37:31,670 --> 00:37:34,670 Travis Wright: they say, hey, do you have $10,000 more value? Like, Oh, no, no, 606 00:37:34,670 --> 00:37:36,919 Travis Wright: I just got it. Yeah, I got this big ass 607 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:40,819 Travis Wright: bar gold here. Sorry about that. This is ours now. 608 00:37:41,870 --> 00:37:45,080 Paolo Ardoino: Well, you can do like you can, in fact, reduce, 609 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:47,540 Paolo Ardoino: you know, you can do smaller, like one kilos bar 610 00:37:47,540 --> 00:37:49,490 Paolo Ardoino: or half a kilos bar and so on. So we are 611 00:37:49,489 --> 00:37:52,730 Paolo Ardoino: starting with that operates it's started recently this, this new 612 00:37:52,730 --> 00:37:56,480 Paolo Ardoino: project and the goal is fully held in Switzerland. I 613 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,600 Paolo Ardoino: mean is Switzerland's been proved to be the safest place 614 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:05,239 Paolo Ardoino: for gold throughout the history in years. So but that 615 00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:08,120 Paolo Ardoino: is the thing with gold is that I come from 616 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:11,330 Paolo Ardoino: Italy and now you know it's gold is extremely well 617 00:38:11,330 --> 00:38:16,400 Paolo Ardoino: understood by emigrants from the populations that have always to 618 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:18,890 Paolo Ardoino: have something, you know, under their pillows because they have 619 00:38:18,890 --> 00:38:21,770 Paolo Ardoino: a you know, they're that geopolitics of debt that those 620 00:38:21,770 --> 00:38:25,430 Paolo Ardoino: eras where kind of weird and crazy. The same happens 621 00:38:25,430 --> 00:38:28,640 Paolo Ardoino: with India, with the with Turkey, with, you know, Venezuela 622 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,250 Paolo Ardoino: and the others. Right. So I think that gold is 623 00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:36,710 Paolo Ardoino: is quite interesting for that aspect. But really, no, no 624 00:38:36,710 --> 00:38:41,540 Paolo Ardoino: way that I mean, from what we are seeing, no 625 00:38:41,540 --> 00:38:45,230 Paolo Ardoino: other national currency has any shot against the dollar. Honestly, 626 00:38:45,710 --> 00:38:46,160 Paolo Ardoino: if you can. 627 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:50,210 Joel Comm: Explain for me, Paolo, maybe this makes sense in some 628 00:38:50,210 --> 00:38:53,320 Joel Comm: way when I look at the gold price right now 629 00:38:53,330 --> 00:38:57,920 Joel Comm: as we're doing this interview at 1739 an ounce, the 630 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:02,719 Joel Comm: gold price of excess duty is 1705 dollars. Why is 631 00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:07,069 Joel Comm: there such a discrepancy in the trading price of the 632 00:39:07,830 --> 00:39:12,830 Joel Comm: the tether gold versus the market price of gold right now? 633 00:39:14,489 --> 00:39:20,460 Paolo Ardoino: So we as to keep the market the business model viable, 634 00:39:20,460 --> 00:39:24,150 Paolo Ardoino: we have to apply 25 basis points each to the redemptions. Right? So, 635 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:26,310 Paolo Ardoino: you know, you have to carry a physical, a goal 636 00:39:26,310 --> 00:39:28,320 Paolo Ardoino: or a goal bar and so on. So of course, 637 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:30,960 Paolo Ardoino: that's reflected in the price. So if of course, if 638 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,920 Paolo Ardoino: you hold like a gold node or a future that 639 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:36,570 Paolo Ardoino: is different because you know, you sell it on the 640 00:39:36,570 --> 00:39:39,540 Paolo Ardoino: market and you know, there is there is no actually 641 00:39:39,540 --> 00:39:42,899 Paolo Ardoino: carrying on the underlying, but the, if you will, actually 642 00:39:42,900 --> 00:39:46,950 Paolo Ardoino: selling a piece of a gold bar that has certain 643 00:39:46,950 --> 00:39:49,410 Paolo Ardoino: requirements that also are physical requirements. 644 00:39:49,410 --> 00:39:51,630 Travis Wright: And so and that's actually true to this day, Joel, 645 00:39:51,630 --> 00:39:54,239 Travis Wright: If I try to go to some place and buy 646 00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:56,400 Travis Wright: some physical gold, there's always a little bit of a 647 00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:58,980 Travis Wright: premium on that. If I want to buy gold coins, 648 00:39:58,989 --> 00:40:01,500 Travis Wright: if I want to buy silver coins, there's the spot 649 00:40:01,500 --> 00:40:03,980 Travis Wright: price and then there's the price that it actually is. 650 00:40:03,989 --> 00:40:05,819 Travis Wright: So there is always a little bit of a difference 651 00:40:06,090 --> 00:40:09,410 Travis Wright: and there's not much of a difference really comparatively of 652 00:40:09,450 --> 00:40:13,529 Travis Wright: excess duty versus the price of gold. Comparatively, it would 653 00:40:13,530 --> 00:40:15,720 Travis Wright: seem like it seems a little bit lower, but they'll 654 00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:18,359 Travis Wright: pay for gold is such a problem. Paolo. I mean, 655 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,730 Travis Wright: what is it for Every real physical ounce of gold, 656 00:40:20,730 --> 00:40:25,049 Travis Wright: there's like 500 fake paper ones from COMEX, and it's 657 00:40:25,050 --> 00:40:29,250 Travis Wright: very similar to that with silver for every silver physical ounces, 658 00:40:29,250 --> 00:40:32,910 Travis Wright: 200 plus some odd, some fake ones. And so the 659 00:40:32,910 --> 00:40:36,240 Travis Wright: fact that you're actually pulling in physical ones and stating 660 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:41,670 Travis Wright: that definitively that is a much bigger thing because realistically 661 00:40:41,910 --> 00:40:46,080 Travis Wright: there's about 500 times less gold in the world than 662 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,170 Travis Wright: the claim and about 200 times less silver than they 663 00:40:49,170 --> 00:40:50,400 Travis Wright: claim overall. Right? 664 00:40:51,270 --> 00:40:55,290 Paolo Ardoino: Yeah, The the basically the point that I hear many 665 00:40:55,290 --> 00:40:59,580 Paolo Ardoino: people doing is that the gold, the price is kept 666 00:40:59,580 --> 00:41:05,190 Paolo Ardoino: low by the immense future markets that, you know are like, 667 00:41:05,550 --> 00:41:09,600 Paolo Ardoino: you know, ten times bigger than the actual gold, you know, 668 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:13,590 Paolo Ardoino: physical gold market. So back to, you know, in a 669 00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:18,150 Paolo Ardoino: critical geopolitical situation, you know, there might be a breaking 670 00:41:18,150 --> 00:41:22,049 Paolo Ardoino: point where the gold, actual physical gold price cannot be 671 00:41:22,050 --> 00:41:29,669 Paolo Ardoino: kept stable anymore. And that could be an interesting event. Right. So, 672 00:41:30,570 --> 00:41:32,729 Paolo Ardoino: you know, you can say the very same thing goes 673 00:41:32,730 --> 00:41:36,630 Paolo Ardoino: for for Bitcoin, Right. So the size of the future markets, 674 00:41:36,630 --> 00:41:37,420 Paolo Ardoino: I mean, it's. 675 00:41:37,650 --> 00:41:39,810 Travis Wright: That's kind of keeping the price of Bitcoin down maybe 676 00:41:39,810 --> 00:41:42,330 Travis Wright: as those for those futures, which there's a lot of 677 00:41:42,330 --> 00:41:48,900 Travis Wright: traditional financial mechanisms that really shouldn't be in crypto because 678 00:41:48,900 --> 00:41:51,960 Travis Wright: of how they can manipulate things like that. That's always 679 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,450 Travis Wright: been my opinion. As soon as YouTube popped up, you 680 00:41:54,450 --> 00:41:57,150 Travis Wright: could see the market getting weird. You can see some 681 00:41:57,150 --> 00:41:59,430 Travis Wright: of these other things popping out of the market's getting weird. 682 00:41:59,790 --> 00:42:02,219 Travis Wright: So hopefully we keep the weirdness out of crypto and 683 00:42:02,219 --> 00:42:04,980 Travis Wright: only the weird people can stay in crypto like us. 684 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:09,390 Joel Comm: Yes, crypto needs weirdness. Well, Paolo, appreciate you coming on 685 00:42:09,390 --> 00:42:11,850 Joel Comm: today and letting us put your feet to the fire 686 00:42:11,850 --> 00:42:13,560 Joel Comm: a little bit. I'm sure we're not the first and 687 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:15,510 Joel Comm: we won't be the last and we will be looking 688 00:42:15,510 --> 00:42:19,529 Joel Comm: forward to a few months from now. Hopefully, as you say, 689 00:42:19,530 --> 00:42:24,150 Joel Comm: seeing this outside audit and allaying people's fears even further. 690 00:42:24,690 --> 00:42:29,730 Joel Comm: But let's hope USD Usdc remains as stable as promised. 691 00:42:30,950 --> 00:42:34,759 Paolo Ardoino: Absolutely will. Thank you very much, guys. Was it really fun? 692 00:42:37,290 --> 00:42:39,739 Joel Comm: Well. Travis, how do you feel about that? Do you 693 00:42:39,739 --> 00:42:46,040 Joel Comm: feel like Pablo answered the questions to the satisfaction of 694 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:47,570 Joel Comm: yourself and to our listeners? 695 00:42:48,989 --> 00:42:52,680 Travis Wright: Well, I think that he definitely put some some insights 696 00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:56,630 Travis Wright: on it that we maybe didn't have. And he says that, well, 697 00:42:56,640 --> 00:43:00,089 Travis Wright: it's very secure. So, of course, somebody in his position 698 00:43:00,090 --> 00:43:03,000 Travis Wright: would say that's I guess we shall see. So, you know, 699 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,830 Travis Wright: you stablecoins at your own risk of stability or instability. 700 00:43:08,010 --> 00:43:08,700 Travis Wright: It's up to you. Mm hmm. 701 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,940 Joel Comm: Mm hmm. So we appreciate you guys listening and we 702 00:43:11,940 --> 00:43:15,509 Joel Comm: appreciate reviews. Good, bad or indifferent, we tell you, hey, 703 00:43:15,510 --> 00:43:17,040 Joel Comm: if you're going to if you really like the show, 704 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:19,110 Joel Comm: give us a five star review and feel free to 705 00:43:19,110 --> 00:43:21,180 Joel Comm: be funny. If you're just going to be a whiny 706 00:43:21,180 --> 00:43:25,440 Joel Comm: little bitch, then you know why? Why bother, right? Why 707 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:28,830 Joel Comm: put that out there? Well, this guy did e y 708 00:43:28,830 --> 00:43:32,820 Joel Comm: c s f c a a reviewed us with a 709 00:43:32,850 --> 00:43:38,430 Joel Comm: one star review stoking election conspiracies. I've enjoyed some of 710 00:43:38,430 --> 00:43:42,720 Joel Comm: the industry insights, but stoking a lecturing election conspiracies make 711 00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:46,919 Joel Comm: me question their credibility. Friend, The fact that you are 712 00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:51,930 Joel Comm: not questioning the elections totally makes me question your credibility 713 00:43:52,230 --> 00:43:55,770 Joel Comm: and your ability to be a self thinker. I mean, 714 00:43:55,770 --> 00:44:00,660 Joel Comm: this is here's how bad it is, Travis, that in 715 00:44:00,660 --> 00:44:05,780 Joel Comm: Mojave County, the gentleman on the board, Mojave County that 716 00:44:05,790 --> 00:44:08,670 Joel Comm: has to certify the votes was told that if he 717 00:44:08,670 --> 00:44:12,330 Joel Comm: did not certify the votes, he was committing a felony 718 00:44:12,330 --> 00:44:14,810 Joel Comm: and would be arrested. So he. 719 00:44:14,940 --> 00:44:15,240 Travis Wright: Saw. 720 00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:17,790 Joel Comm: That. He said that. And he's like, all right, so 721 00:44:17,790 --> 00:44:21,690 Joel Comm: I vote I, I mean, is this America? If that doesn't. 722 00:44:21,690 --> 00:44:24,870 Travis Wright: If you don't certify, you're getting a felony. Like, well, 723 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:29,820 Travis Wright: but if it's incorrect, do you get a felony? I mean, 724 00:44:29,910 --> 00:44:32,880 Travis Wright: who's who's giving out the felonies while the head of 725 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:35,550 Travis Wright: the the head of the election committee over there was 726 00:44:35,550 --> 00:44:38,220 Travis Wright: actually one of the people who was running for governor 727 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:40,739 Travis Wright: like that in itself. He should be like, I need 728 00:44:40,739 --> 00:44:42,650 Travis Wright: to stand down on this one, you know. 729 00:44:42,660 --> 00:44:46,020 Joel Comm: So we we got we got one star review from 730 00:44:46,020 --> 00:44:48,660 Joel Comm: this fella. Sorry to see you go. Hopefully you will 731 00:44:48,660 --> 00:44:51,750 Joel Comm: be more open minded in the future to the fact 732 00:44:51,750 --> 00:44:55,140 Joel Comm: that you might be eating up some of the narrative 733 00:44:55,140 --> 00:44:57,509 Joel Comm: that they're feeding you on the little spoon out of 734 00:44:57,510 --> 00:44:58,489 Joel Comm: the baby food jar. 735 00:44:58,500 --> 00:45:00,930 Travis Wright: Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Gerber, I'm glad to see you go. 736 00:45:00,930 --> 00:45:02,970 Travis Wright: I'm glad to see you go. If you're an idiot, 737 00:45:02,969 --> 00:45:04,500 Travis Wright: get out of here. I don't want to talk to 738 00:45:04,510 --> 00:45:04,920 Travis Wright: the media. 739 00:45:05,130 --> 00:45:06,420 Joel Comm: We welcome idiots. 740 00:45:07,140 --> 00:45:09,330 Travis Wright: Well, we welcome some idiots, but you got to be 741 00:45:09,330 --> 00:45:10,500 Travis Wright: a free thinking idiot. 742 00:45:10,860 --> 00:45:14,040 Joel Comm: I you Listen, I don't have everything right. There's many 743 00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:16,890 Joel Comm: times in my life that. That I know I. 744 00:45:16,890 --> 00:45:19,860 Travis Wright: Want to read a joke. I want to read in Idiot. 745 00:45:19,980 --> 00:45:23,880 Joel Comm: This guy, though, gave us four stars. John K 53, 74, 746 00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:27,480 Joel Comm: four stars. This show is reasonably funny. Which you know 747 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:28,560 Joel Comm: what that is? High praise. 748 00:45:29,370 --> 00:45:30,629 Travis Wright: We are reasonably funny. 749 00:45:30,719 --> 00:45:34,560 Joel Comm: If we can get by with reasonably funny. Yeah, that's 750 00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:35,070 Joel Comm: pretty good. 751 00:45:35,250 --> 00:45:37,379 Travis Wright: That's it. Maybe me and you by a lot. Welcome 752 00:45:37,380 --> 00:45:39,540 Travis Wright: to the Bad Crypto podcast. We're reasonably. 753 00:45:39,540 --> 00:45:42,029 Joel Comm: Profitable. Funny, I like and we're in. 754 00:45:42,030 --> 00:45:50,270 Travis Wright: It for and according to some were not reasonable. Was unreasonable, unreasonable, unreasonable, irrational. 755 00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:52,890 Travis Wright: We don't even know how to say it. So I 756 00:45:52,890 --> 00:45:56,520 Travis Wright: like that we're not unreasonable when it comes to things 757 00:45:56,520 --> 00:45:58,799 Travis Wright: that you don't like wearing or unreasonable. 758 00:45:59,100 --> 00:46:00,640 Joel Comm: No, we're very reasonable. 759 00:46:01,730 --> 00:46:02,600 Travis Wright: Or air reasonable. 760 00:46:03,350 --> 00:46:07,280 Joel Comm: The the bad crypto nifty club. It's rock and roll 761 00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:10,310 Joel Comm: and every day people are signing up You might want 762 00:46:10,310 --> 00:46:13,640 Joel Comm: to as well because we're dropping free nfts. In fact, 763 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:19,000 Joel Comm: our next episode is going to welcome back G. Edward Griffin. 764 00:46:19,010 --> 00:46:21,680 Joel Comm: This dude is a living legend. You don't want to 765 00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:23,930 Joel Comm: miss this. And I could tell you now that there 766 00:46:23,930 --> 00:46:26,630 Joel Comm: is going to be a free NFT. So to join 767 00:46:26,630 --> 00:46:29,900 Joel Comm: the Bad crypto Nifty Club, go to bed crypto dot 768 00:46:29,900 --> 00:46:33,230 Joel Comm: Uncut dot FM as you see here, and you're going 769 00:46:33,230 --> 00:46:35,390 Joel Comm: to want to scroll through the John McAfee ones, though 770 00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:38,230 Joel Comm: some of those are for purchase but the bad crypto 771 00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:41,540 Joel Comm: nifty club right here, this is the one you need 772 00:46:41,540 --> 00:46:44,180 Joel Comm: to own to get the free airdrops and it's going 773 00:46:44,180 --> 00:46:48,170 Joel Comm: to cost you $2 million. No, that's not right. $2.42 774 00:46:48,170 --> 00:46:53,630 Joel Comm: as of right now, .002 wrapped ether. That's to keep 775 00:46:53,630 --> 00:46:56,660 Joel Comm: the bots away and then the free airdrops are going 776 00:46:56,660 --> 00:46:58,790 Joel Comm: to come your way. So really. 777 00:46:58,790 --> 00:47:02,180 Travis Wright: Bots, we're keeping the bots away. Hey, you know, last 778 00:47:02,180 --> 00:47:05,930 Travis Wright: night I listened to I watched. Have you seen this yet? 779 00:47:05,930 --> 00:47:08,840 Travis Wright: Bo Burnham has insights special that he did when he 780 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,399 Travis Wright: was just inside the house. No, we seen yet. Oh, 781 00:47:12,410 --> 00:47:16,339 Travis Wright: my God. I will go on and say it's borderline 782 00:47:16,340 --> 00:47:21,110 Travis Wright: creative genius. Okay. That's what they say, that Netflix and 783 00:47:21,110 --> 00:47:25,100 Travis Wright: I will say this. It's so funny that Netflix was 784 00:47:25,100 --> 00:47:27,469 Travis Wright: basically like, okay, we want another special now. Do you 785 00:47:27,469 --> 00:47:30,560 Travis Wright: have any outtakes from it? And so he basically created 786 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:34,040 Travis Wright: another one called Outtakes from Inside, and he saved that 787 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:37,580 Travis Wright: house for 200 and some odd days creating this thing. 788 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:40,190 Travis Wright: And he made all the songs that he made all 789 00:47:40,190 --> 00:47:42,510 Travis Wright: the videos for each one of the songs that all 790 00:47:42,510 --> 00:47:47,120 Travis Wright: the lighting. It's it's impressive. I was I had just 791 00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:50,509 Travis Wright: listened to somebody play the song called White Woman's Instagram. 792 00:47:50,510 --> 00:47:52,759 Travis Wright: And I was laughing. I listened to the song on Spotify. 793 00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:55,129 Travis Wright: I was like, Haha. And then he had another song 794 00:47:55,130 --> 00:47:56,569 Travis Wright: that was catchy and I was like, Oh, that's good. 795 00:47:56,780 --> 00:47:58,970 Travis Wright: And then I realized it was on Netflix. And as 796 00:47:58,969 --> 00:48:01,489 Travis Wright: I don't normally peruse Netflix all that much, but I 797 00:48:01,489 --> 00:48:04,160 Travis Wright: went and watched it. I was I was blown away 798 00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:06,730 Travis Wright: by the new genius. I think that he's pretty and 799 00:48:06,739 --> 00:48:09,440 Travis Wright: he's pretty aware too. So when you read between the lines, 800 00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:10,700 Travis Wright: you can see how he kind of thinks. 801 00:48:11,390 --> 00:48:16,100 Joel Comm: Travis is totally UNsponsored pitch for Bo Burnham. I'm going 802 00:48:16,100 --> 00:48:17,630 Joel Comm: to go give it a I'll give it a watch 803 00:48:17,630 --> 00:48:18,049 Joel Comm: for sure. 804 00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:18,560 Travis Wright: I was like. 805 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:23,660 Joel Comm: Hey, what? Trevor We got a bunch of voicemails from people. 806 00:48:23,660 --> 00:48:27,589 Joel Comm: What would you think of doing a listener feedback show 807 00:48:27,590 --> 00:48:28,730 Joel Comm: here in the near future? 808 00:48:29,090 --> 00:48:31,160 Travis Wright: I think near future sounds good. Let's do that. I 809 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:32,839 Travis Wright: think in the very near future I'm going to eat 810 00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:33,410 Travis Wright: some food though. 811 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:35,630 Joel Comm: So here's what you guys need to do. If you 812 00:48:35,630 --> 00:48:37,820 Joel Comm: want to be in the feedback show, email us at 813 00:48:37,820 --> 00:48:41,180 Joel Comm: Bat crypto podcast at gmail.com. You can ask us questions, 814 00:48:41,180 --> 00:48:43,130 Joel Comm: you can give us feedback, tell us what you think. 815 00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:45,770 Joel Comm: You can just tell us, stay bad, tell us, you 816 00:48:45,770 --> 00:48:48,620 Joel Comm: know what? How the show has has helped you or 817 00:48:48,620 --> 00:48:49,310 Joel Comm: hurt how we've. 818 00:48:49,310 --> 00:48:52,580 Travis Wright: Learned it, how we've landed credence to conspiracy theories. 819 00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:54,520 Joel Comm: Yeah, that's all good. I don't know. 820 00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:57,230 Travis Wright: You know, Joe, I don't really know Joe. Conspiracy theories 821 00:48:57,230 --> 00:48:59,270 Travis Wright: like 18 an hour right now. So I don't know 822 00:48:59,270 --> 00:49:00,650 Travis Wright: how somebody can come out and be like we're. 823 00:49:02,030 --> 00:49:05,750 Joel Comm: As a realist or call us. Here's the bad crypto 824 00:49:05,750 --> 00:49:13,609 Joel Comm: hotline number 7088859030708 85 9030. Call us. We'd love to 825 00:49:13,610 --> 00:49:15,410 Joel Comm: hear your voice and we'd especially love to hear from 826 00:49:15,410 --> 00:49:18,230 Joel Comm: the crypto check's like and we know you're out there. 827 00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:21,439 Joel Comm: Don't be shy. Call us ask questions, give feedback. Tell 828 00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:23,780 Joel Comm: us a joke. Tell us to stay bad. Tell us 829 00:49:23,780 --> 00:49:26,569 Joel Comm: to get lost. Whatever you want. Like Will and will. 830 00:49:26,750 --> 00:49:30,919 Joel Comm: Gather those up and do a listener show. We'll put 831 00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:34,580 Joel Comm: the spotlight on you guys here sometime in the near future. 832 00:49:34,610 --> 00:49:37,489 Travis Wright: Yeah, we're going to do it for episode number 666. 833 00:49:38,180 --> 00:49:41,900 Joel Comm: Oh, that would actually be like the episode of The Beast. 834 00:49:42,900 --> 00:49:46,550 Travis Wright: I might be just bullshit. I know what episode where 835 00:49:46,550 --> 00:49:47,090 Travis Wright: we are now. 836 00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:51,130 Joel Comm: This is 655 and we're glad that you guys listen. 837 00:49:51,140 --> 00:49:53,870 Joel Comm: Thanks again. We'll catch you on the next episode with G. 838 00:49:53,900 --> 00:49:57,230 Joel Comm: Edward Griffin. Until then, stay at. 839 00:49:58,100 --> 00:49:58,940 Travis Wright: Reasonably bad. 840 00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:16,640 Travis Wright: Who's bad? 841 00:50:18,430 --> 00:50:22,060 Joel Comm: The Bad Crypto podcast is a production of Bad Crypto LLC. 842 00:50:22,239 --> 00:50:24,969 Joel Comm: The content of the show, the videos and the website 843 00:50:24,969 --> 00:50:29,080 Joel Comm: is provided for educational, informational and entertainment purposes only. It's 844 00:50:29,080 --> 00:50:33,010 Joel Comm: not intended to be and does not constitute financial investment 845 00:50:33,010 --> 00:50:36,040 Joel Comm: or trading advice of any kind. You shouldn't make any 846 00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:39,700 Joel Comm: decisions as to finances, investing, trading or anything else based 847 00:50:39,700 --> 00:50:44,230 Joel Comm: on this information without undertaking independent due diligence in consultation 848 00:50:44,230 --> 00:50:47,650 Joel Comm: with a professional financial advisor. Please understand that the trading 849 00:50:47,650 --> 00:50:52,690 Joel Comm: of Bitcoins and alternative cryptocurrencies have potential risks involved. Anyone 850 00:50:52,690 --> 00:50:55,120 Joel Comm: wishing to invest in any of the currencies or tokens 851 00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,450 Joel Comm: mentioned on this podcast should first seek their own independent 852 00:50:58,450 --> 00:51:00,310 Joel Comm: professional financial advisor.