In a recent episode of The Block’s Big Brain podcast, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, highlighted Blackrock Neurotech, a brain-computer interface firm backed by Tether, as one of their most promising investments. Ardoino believes that Blackrock Neurotech, which should consider a rebrand to avoid any confusion with the well-known asset manager and Bitcoin ETF issuer, BlackRock, is already outpacing Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
Neuralink, founded by Musk, is a neurotechnology company that aims to connect human brains directly to computers via brain-computer interfaces. It’s part of a broader goal to assist individuals with neurological disorders like paralysis or blindness. Musk also imagines that Neuralink could facilitate high-bandwidth communication between humans and machines, potentially merging human cognition with artificial intelligence.
Tether’s strategic investment of $200 million in Blackrock Neurotech in April 2024 made it the majority stakeholder in the company, which was established in 2008 by scientists and brain-computer interface (BCI) pioneers Dr. Florian Solzbacher and Marcus Gerhardt at the University of Utah. Blackrock Neurotech’s technology has already enabled patients to control robotic arms, wheelchairs, send messages, surf the internet, and even drive a car using only their thoughts, according to Tether.
“In my opinion, they are significantly more advanced than Neuralink at this point,” Ardoino stated to The Block. “They already have over 40 patients. The next generation of the brainchip is just incredible.”
Like Musk, Ardoino also dreams of developing a unique “brain operating system” in the future. “What I want to do to set us apart from everyone else is to build an open-source brain operating system. I believe that this will be the next smartphone in the next 15 to 30 years,” he expressed.
“We might be on time to build an open-source technology that ensures no one is controlled by a tech giant. I’m a cautious person, so I want to make sure that everyone is on a level playing field,” he added.
In recent years, Tether, which generated a profit of roughly $13 billion in 2024 with a team of fewer than 200 and now holds over 100,000 BTC ($10 billion), has been assertively investing in a range of projects beyond stablecoins in various sectors, including artificial intelligence, telecommunications, data centers, energy infrastructure, and bitcoin mining.
