Tether Drops QVAC—A Decentralized AI Platform That Might Actually Make Stablecoins Interesting

Tether—the company you love to hate for printing unbacked billions—just pivoted hard into AI. Their new platform, QVAC, promises decentralized machine learning with blockchain accountability. Because nothing says ’trustless’ like an algo trained on a ledger full of USDT.

How it works: QVAC cuts out centralized data silos by running models across distributed nodes. No single entity controls the training data—unless you count Tether’s mysterious reserves. The whitepaper claims resistance to censorship and manipulation. Wall Street’s quant shops are already side-eyeing the project.

The kicker? QVAC will initially run on Tether’s own blockchain. Because when you’ve mastered the art of creating money from thin air, why stop at financial systems? This might finally be the use case that distracts from their perpetual ’fully audited’ charade.

Tether, the leading stablecoin issuer, is entering into the decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) space with the upcoming launch of QVAC (QuantumVerse Automatic Computer), the company announced in a statement on Thursday.

QVAC is a development platform designed to enable highly scalable AI applications and agents to run directly on user devices, prioritizing user privacy and autonomy.

My Tether AI slides introducing QVAC 🤖 pic.twitter.com/M4IcsXvBk7

According to Tether, QVAC aims to shift the current AI paradigm, where applications heavily rely on centralized services and cloud infrastructure. Tether CEO, Paolo Ardoino, emphasized this point, stating, "If you need an API key to use your AI, it isn’t truly yours."

The platform’s modular design and peer-to-peer networking facilitate direct device-to-device communication, enabling an ecosystem capable of supporting trillions of AI agents and applications. Integrated payments via Tether’s WDK will also allow AI agents to transact autonomously in Bitcoin and USDt.

Tether plans to release QVAC-based AI applications, including QVAC/Translate for on-device transcription and translation, and QVAC/Health, a private wellness tracker. The company said it will also release an open-source Software Development Kit (SDK) in the coming months.

This announcement is part of Tether’s broader diversification strategy. Tether has been expanding its investments beyond stablecoins, fueled by substantial profits, including over $13 billion in 2024. Recently, Tether acquired 4,812.22 BTC, worth $458.7 million, to fund Twenty One, a new bitcoin treasury company being formed in collaboration with Bitfinex, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank. Twenty One plans to launch with a treasury of over 42,000 BTC, valued at approximately $4.4 billion.

Tether is also investing in media, with a €10 million investment for a 30.4% stake in Be Water, an Italian content production and distribution company, earlier this year. Tether also increased its stake in the agricultural firm Adecoagro to 70%.