Tether Holds 150,000 Bitcoin, CEO Says—About 50,000 More Than Its Reserve Report Shows
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the stablecoin giant now holds around 150,000 Bitcoin, worth roughly $11.5 billion at current prices, a figure that exceeds what the company's own reserve disclosures imply by some 50,000 coins.
"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, the city where Tether has run a Bitcoin and stablecoin adoption program since 2022.
The claim is notable because it doesn't square neatly with the paper trail. Tether's third-quarter reserve attestation, which covers the assets backing its USDT stablecoin, lists $8.37 billion of Bitcoin valued at $83,621 per coin, implying roughly 100,060 BTC.
That leaves about 50,000 coins, worth close to $3.8 billion, that its public filings do not yet account for. Ardoino did not say where the additional Bitcoin is held or when it was acquired, so his comment doesn't indicate a fresh purchase of that size, and Tether has long maintained that its corporate Bitcoin investments sit separately from the reserves supporting USDT.
The stablecoin issuer has been accumulating Bitcoin for years. In May 2023, Tether said it would funnel up to 15% of its net realized operating profits into Bitcoin, and that it would custody the coins itself rather than rely on third-party custodians.
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Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the stablecoin giant now holds around 150,000 Bitcoin, worth roughly $11.5 billion at current prices, a figure that exceeds what the company's own reserve disclosures imply by some 50,000 coins.
"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, the city where Tether has run a Bitcoin and stablecoin adoption program since 2022.
The claim is notable because it doesn't square neatly with the paper trail. Tether's third-quarter reserve attestation, which covers the assets backing its USDT stablecoin, lists $8.37 billion of Bitcoin valued at $83,621 per coin, implying roughly 100,060 BTC.
That leaves about 50,000 coins, worth close to $3.8 billion, that its public filings do not yet account for. Ardoino did not say where the additional Bitcoin is held or when it was acquired, so his comment doesn't indicate a fresh purchase of that size, and Tether has long maintained that its corporate Bitcoin investments sit separately from the reserves supporting USDT.
The stablecoin issuer has been accumulating Bitcoin for years. In May 2023, Tether said it would funnel up to 15% of its net realized operating profits into Bitcoin, and that it would custody the coins itself rather than rely on third-party custodians.
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