Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, announced that it added 14 metric tons of physical gold to its reserves during the second quarter, bringing total gold holdings to more than 146 metric tons. The gold component of the reserves was valued at $18.8 billion at the end of June. At that time, the USDT stablecoin had $183.7 billion worth of tokens in circulation, while the gold‑backed XAUT token accounted for $2.9 billion in circulation.
CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that Tether remained one of the world’s largest buyers of U.S. Treasury securities, reduced secured lending by $2.38 billion, and added the 14 tons of gold. The company reported a net operating profit of $1.50 billion for the quarter, driven primarily by performance in its Treasury portfolio and repo activities.
The report highlighted that gold prices experienced their sharpest quarterly decline since 2013, falling 14% in Q2, yet Tether accelerated its gold purchases, having bought 6 tons in the first quarter and 14 tons in the second. This increase in gold holdings underscores Tether’s strategy to bolster the backing of its USDT and XAUT stablecoins.