Tether prints $1.5B in Q2 while crypto prays for a rate cut 💸

Tether closed the second quarter with a net operating profit of $1.5 billion, the stablecoin issuer disclosed Friday in its latest attestation, with income from US Treasuries and repurchase agreements doing the heavy lifting. The company also reported a reserve buffer of $4.11 billion as of June 30, meaning its assets exceeded liabilities by that amount.

The result was driven primarily by interest earned on the company's holdings of US Treasury securities and short-term loans backed by government debt, a portfolio that has made Tether one of the largest holders of US Treasuries in the world. Elevated short-term interest rates have continued to boost returns on Treasury bills and related cash-equivalent assets, which form the backbone of Tether's reserves.

Despite a broader contraction across the stablecoin market, the circulating supply of USDt (USDT) increased by $446 million during the quarter to $184.6 billion, allowing Tether to retain more than 60% of the global stablecoin market, according to the attestation. The total stablecoin market was valued at roughly $307 billion as of Friday, according to DeFiLlama data.

Tether's latest figures underscore how the issuer's Treasury-heavy reserve model continues to generate outsized returns even as digital asset prices remain under pressure, with traditional fixed-income markets doing the work that crypto trading desks once did for the company.