CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed on X that the fundraising targets “high-profile investors to scale the company’s strategy across stablecoins, AI, commodities, energy, communications, and media.”

Tether cryptocurrency logo displayed on a phone screen and representation of cryptocurrency are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on November 2, 2021. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Prabhjote Gill·Stocktwits

Updated Sep 24, 2025 | 8:46 AM GMT-04

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Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT (USDT), is exploring a major fundraising round that could value the company on par with leading AI firm OpenAI, CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the company is targeting $15 billion to $20 billion for a roughly 3% stake through a private placement. Ardoino confirmed the fundraising plans in a post on X, saying the round targets “a selected group of high-profile investors to scale the Company’s strategy across all existing and new business lines—stablecoins, distribution, AI, commodity trading, energy, communications, and media—by several orders of magnitude.”

Screenshot 2025-09-24 084308.png — Source: @paoloardoino/X

OpenAI’s current valuation is reportedly around $500 billion, making it the world’s most valuable private company—surpassing SpaceX, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, and even public firms like Palantir. If Tether’s fundraising round reaches its $15 billion to $20 billion target, it could place the crypto giant on a comparable footing to OpenAI.

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