Tether CEO: Future Daily Payments Will Reach Trillions, Lightning is the Right Direction
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that in the future, billions of people and AI agents will generate daily payment volumes in the trillions, which the existing traditional financial transmission layer will be unable to handle.
He emphasized that solutions like the Lightning Network are the correct path.
Market mechanisms indicate that the massive demand for payments from AI agents and individuals is accelerating the shift from traditional card networks to Bitcoin Layer 2. Tether's stablecoin and the Lightning ecosystem benefit from instant, low-cost settlements, while centralized payment giants face pressure, with capital concentrating on scalable decentralized payment infrastructure.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Paolo Ardoino has long advocated for Tether's role in global payments. This statement continues his assessment of the capacity bottlenecks in the traditional financial system, emphasizing that AI agents will create unprecedented high-frequency micro-payment demands. The instant finality and extremely low fees of the Lightning Network make it a natural fit.
In terms of capital strategy, Tether is focusing resources on Lightning integration and stablecoin liquidity support, shifting funds from mere reserve asset management to payment infrastructure development. The strategic goal is to create a global real-time value transfer layer through USDT on Lightning, capturing the trillion-dollar payment market in the AI era.
Similar cases include Strike promoting cross-border micro-payments on Lightning and Visa's early expansion from millions to billions in transaction capacity. Currently, Bitcoin payment infrastructure is transitioning from edge adoption to preparation and expansion to meet the massive transactions from AI agents.
Essentially, this represents a restructuring of the industry chain: traditional centralized payment networks are being fully replaced by Layer 2 solutions like Lightning. The mechanism is that the high-frequency, global, small payment demands generated by AI agents far exceed the capacity of existing banks and card networks, leading to a concentration of pricing power from centralized giants like Visa/Mastercard to the Bitcoin Lightning network, Tether, and related infrastructure, while accelerating the structural transformation of the global payment system from fiat currency centralization to digital-native instant settlement.