Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, argues that an AI-driven bubble could affect Bitcoin. He also talks about Europe, DATs, and tokenisation in 2026.
Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, which issues the world’s largest stablecoin, is worried that a possible AI bubble could damage Bitcoin by 2026.
On Thursday, Ardoino talked about his thoughts on Bitcoin (BTC $88,210) and the crypto industry as a whole on the Bitcoin Capital podcast, which is co-hosted by Bitfinex Securities and Blockstream.
The CEO stated that Bitcoin is “still too much correlated” to capital markets, which means that it might be affected by the AI bubble or a stock market bubble that some people think is expanding along with the AI boom.
Ardoino said, “That is the so-called AI bubble,” which is the worry that AI businesses are spending too much on AI infrastructure and data centres and trying to develop a billion gigawatts of power and install GPUs.
There won’t be any more big drops in BTC like there were in 2022
Tether CEO said that if AI mood changes in 2026, the US stock market could become unstable, which could effect the price of Bitcoin.
Ardoino doesn’t anticipate any other big risks to Bitcoin’s performance in 2026, except than the risks that come with the AI bubble. This is because more pension funds and governments are starting to use it.
Ardoino said, “So I would guess that sharp corrections of 80%, like we saw in 2022 or early 2018, might not happen anymore.”
Ardoino also said he was optimistic about real-world asset tokenisation (RWA), noting that “tokenised securities and commodities are going to be huge.”
The only negative aspect I see is the potential for excessive institutionalisation. Bitcoin is for Bitcoin, right? He remarked, “You don’t want 99% of Bitcoin to be institutionalised.”
Ardoino’s views about Europe
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that he is still positive about Bitcoin and tokenisation in 2026, but he is not as positive about cryptocurrency adoption in Europe or any changes to digital asset treasuries in the coming year.
In the interview, Ardoino remarked, “I’m very bearish on Europe,” saying that the region is still behind when it comes to innovation. Europe will always be the last wheel on the cart. Europe is trying to control something that it doesn’t fully understand yet.
Ardoino talked on what the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) means for the crypto industry. This has made the fight about centralised versus local oversight even more heated.
Tether is one of the most well-known corporations to openly refuse to follow MiCA. This has caused numerous European crypto asset service providers to stop listing the Tether USDt USDT$1 stablecoin.
When asked about DATs, Ardoino indicated he was “not very bullish” on cryptotreasury businesses that were “just treasury companies.”
Ardoino added, “I think you want a treasury company to have an amazing operational business.” He then talked about the Tether-backed Bitcoin startup Twenty One: The goal for Twenty One is to be a great Bitcoin company that offers Bitcoin services and has a very big Bitcoin treasury, which is very important.