Paolo Ardoino

Paolo Ardoino runs Tether, issuer of USDT and arguably the most widely used digital dollar in Africa. USDT has become a practical settlement currency for traders, importers, freelancers and informal foreign-exchange markets, particularly where access to hard currency is constrained. Its importance is not just its enormous global scale but also how naturally it has travelled through African financial networks without traditional distribution infrastructure. Ardoino belongs on Borderless 100 because Tether achieved something unusual: African adoption largely preceded institutional endorsement. USDT became useful first, and the formal financial system is now catching up.