USDT's story goes back to 2014: founded by Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins, and Craig Sellars, originally as “Realcoin,” built on the Mastercoin (later Omni) protocol. Renamed Tether in November 2014; the first USDT was issued on October 6, 2014.
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From the start, closely tied to the Bitfinex exchange — both overseen by iFinex Inc., often with overlapping leadership.
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Current CEO: Paolo Ardoino. Headquarters: Tether Holdings El Salvador S.A. de C.V. (since January 2025).
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Extraordinary profitability: ~200 employees, yet ~$13B net income in 2024, ~$1.04B in profit in Q1 2026 alone.
USDT is the token, Tether (Tether Limited / Tether Holdings) is the issuing company — similar to how Ripple and XRP are not the same entity.