Tether holds over 100,000 bitcoin and 50 tons of gold, CEO says

Perhaps the most profitable company in the crypto industry has stockpiled billions of dollars worth of bitcoin and gold.

Taking the stage at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino presented a slide showing that the company, the world's largest issuer of U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, currently holds more than 100,000 bitcoin (worth north of $10 billion) and over 50 tons of gold. USDT is the stablecoin issued by Tether.

On the same slide, Ardoino showed how Tether generated a profit of approximately $13 billion in 2024, making it almost certainly the most financially successful enterprise in the entire crypto industry.

Given that Tether has accumulated gold, Ardoino attempted to justify the decision before the conference crowd, which was full of Bitcoin enthusiasts.

"Many bitcoiners don't like talking about gold as if gold would take away something from Bitcoin. There is no way. Bitcoin is perfect. Gold is imperfect," he said. "Gold is not competing with bitcoin; gold is competing with fiat and that why we like a little bit of gold."

In Tether's latest report detailing its reserves as of the end of the first fiscal quarter of 2025, Tether said that it had over $7 billion worth of bitcoin and more than $6 billion of "standard physical bars." Its bitcoin holdings were based on a price of about $83,000, the report said.

As dozens of companies are stockpiling bitcoin — while others, such as Strategy, appear to have made acquiring the cryptocurrency their sole focus — BTC's price has been holding steady as of late, including a recent surge to a new all-time high of over $109,000.

Earlier on Thursday, Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management announced  plans for a fund that will offer direct exposure to bitcoin while simultaneously providing “1-to-1 downside protection based on the price of gold.”

Alongside Tether and Softbank, Cantor is linked to Twenty One Capital, a Bitcoin treasury firm that recently acquired  $458 million worth of bitcoin .