Tether, the company that issues the USDT stablecoin, could one day become the most profitable company in history, even surpassing Saudi Aramco, the largest oil and gas company in the world, according to Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan.
In a note shared on Sept. 29, 2025 on the Bitwise website, Hougan said critics underestimate crypto because they fail to see the scale of the markets it is trying to disrupt.
“One of the biggest mistakes skeptics make is underestimating the scale of markets that cryptocurrencies aim to disrupt. This leads them to overlook matters that should be taken very seriously,” he wrote.
He pointed to Bitcoin as an example. The asset is worth $2.3 trillion, a valuation that rivals Amazon. Hougan explained that this figure is possible because Bitcoin competes with gold, a $25 trillion market.
“Amazon is worth $2.3 trillion, but it is a service many use daily, unlike Bitcoin,” Hougan said. He compared the situation to two startups, one trying to replace Amazon entirely and another trying to take a small slice of gold’s market. The second, he argued, has the easier road to success.
Hougan also noted that Ethereum and Solana are competing in areas such as trading, settlement, and the issuance of tokenized assets.
According to McKinsey, the global payments industry processes $1.8 quadrillion every year, while other estimates put the combined value of stocks, bonds, and real estate at $665 trillion.
“These are enormous markets,” he said, adding that decentralized systems can reach them in ways traditional corporations cannot.
The comments came as rumors spread that Tether is looking to raise between $15 billion and $20 billion at a $500 billion valuation, which would place it among the most valuable startups in the world, alongside SpaceX and OpenAI.
Hougan said Tether already holds nearly 100 percent of stablecoin usage in non‑Western countries, which gives it a dominant position in emerging markets. “There is a possibility that many developing jurisdictions will shift from predominantly national currencies to using USDT. If this happens, Tether could manage trillions of dollars and all the associated interest,” he said.
Aramco posted $120 billion in profit in 2024, the highest in history. Hougan argued that if Tether’s assets reached $3 trillion, about three percent of the global money supply, the company would surpass that figure.
Tether has already reported $4.9 billion in second‑quarter profits this year and currently holds $127 billion in the U.S. Treasuries, ranking among the top 20 holders worldwide. It also owns more than 100,000 Bitcoin, valued at over $11 billion.