PANews reported on November 28 that according to The Block, after recently getting involved in commodity lending, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that the liquidity pool reserved by Tether Investments for financing raw material transactions could grow to $3 billion to $5 billion by 2026. In an interview this week, he revealed that Tether Investments plans to provide capital lending to commodity brokers and earn interest on temporary financing. Ardoino said, "This is a way to provide partner liquidity to an industry that is always thirsty for liquidity," adding that Tether Investments has already partnered with some of the largest commodity traders in the industry. For privacy reasons, the Tether executive declined to name any trading companies.
When asked about Tether’s interest in commodities, Ardoino said that since USDT is particularly popular among users in emerging markets and developing countries, where commodity sales are a major driver of the economy, it makes sense to help facilitate trading. He also said that Tether is particularly interested in helping finance oil, gas and gold transactions.