Tether’s Bitcoin Stack Gets $3.8 Billion Buffier Than Its Paper Trail Shows

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the stablecoin issuer now holds around 150,000 Bitcoin, worth roughly $11.5 billion at current prices, putting the company behind only Strategy among major corporate Bitcoin treasury holders. “We have give or take 150,000 bitcoin ourselves. It’s not much, but it’s honest work,” Ardoino said during a keynote at the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano, Switzerland, on November 3.

Tether’s third-quarter reserve attestation lists $8.37 billion in Bitcoin valued at $83,621 per coin, implying roughly 100,060 BTC. The difference amounts to about 50,000 coins worth close to $3.8 billion. Ardoino did not say where the additional Bitcoin is held or when it was acquired, and his comments did not indicate a purchase of that size. Tether has maintained that its corporate Bitcoin investments sit separately from reserves supporting USDT.

The company began building its treasury after announcing in May 2023 that it would allocate up to 15% of net realized operating profits to Bitcoin and custody the coins itself rather than use third-party custodians. Tether reported $1.5 billion in net operating profit in the third quarter alone.

Tether’s broader third-quarter reserve report showed $191.45 billion in assets against $183.50 billion in liabilities, producing an excess cushion of $7.95 billion, nearly double the $4.11 billion buffer reported in June. U.S. Treasury bills accounted for about $132.4 billion of reserves. The company began its first full financial audit with KPMG this year.

Ardoino also said Tether now serves more than 730 million users worldwide and is adding roughly 30 million wallets a quarter as the company promotes open-source technologies funded by its profits.