Tether holds approximately 150,000 bitcoin, worth about $11.5 billion at current prices, CEO Paolo Ardoino said during a keynote at the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano, Switzerland. The figure exceeds the holdings implied by the company’s latest reserve attestation by roughly 50,000 coins.
“We have give or take 150,000 bitcoin ourselves. It’s not much, but it’s honest work,” Ardoino said. Lugano is the city where Tether has run a bitcoin and stablecoin adoption program since 2022.
At that size, Tether would rank among the largest corporate holders of bitcoin, behind Strategy’s 848,517 BTC (as of Q3) and ahead of most public miners and treasury companies.
Ardoino did not specify where the additional coins are held, when they were acquired, or whether they belong to the stablecoin issuer or to Tether Investments, the arm that holds the group’s venture and equity positions. The remark does not indicate a new 50,000 BTC purchase.
Reserve report shows smaller bitcoin position
Tether International’s third-quarter reserve report, published Oct. 30 with an attestation from BDO, lists $8.37 billion in bitcoin valued at $83,621.23 per coin as of Sept. 30. That implies about 100,060 BTC, up around 1,130 from the roughly 98,930 held at the end of June. Most of the quarter’s $2.57 billion rise in the bitcoin line came from price appreciation, not purchases.
The gap between the report and Ardoino’s figure has a plausible explanation. Tether has said the investments it makes from profits are kept apart from the reserves backing USDT, so coins held by Tether Investments would not appear in the attestation.
Tether’s bitcoin exposure extends beyond its own wallets. It took full control of Twenty One Capital in May after buying out SoftBank, backs Adecoagro’s mining in Brazil, and runs mining and energy ventures in Latin America. Whether any of those positions are included in the 150,000 figure is unclear.
Buffer built on bitcoin and gold
The disclosure comes as Tether’s balance sheet grows more dependent on bitcoin and gold. The Q3 report shows $191.45 billion in reserve assets against $183.50 billion in liabilities, an excess of $7.95 billion, up from $4.11 billion in June when the cushion had halved.
Bitcoin at $8.37 billion and gold at about $19.1 billion together exceed that buffer several times over, so a sharp drop in either would eat into it. Treasury bills remain the bulk of reserves at about $132.4 billion.
Tether earned about $1.5 billion in the quarter and $4.5 billion in the first nine months. In August it completed its first independent audit with KPMG, ending years of reliance on attestations alone. Ardoino said at the forum that USDT has more than 730 million users and is adding about 30 million wallets a quarter.
Bitcoin traded near $77,600 on Tuesday, which puts Tether’s stated holdings at $11.6 billion and its attested holdings at about $7.8 billion, below the Sept. 30 mark. The company has not said whether it plans to publish a breakdown of the coins held outside the reserve.
