Tether Targets 15% Gold Allocation; Holdings Hit $24B
CEO Paolo Ardoino confirms the stablecoin giant is buying 1-2 tons of gold weekly, holding a $24B stack that rivals sovereign nations.
Tether has officially cemented its pivot from digital dollar issuer to sovereign-grade asset manager. CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed to Reuters today that the company now targets a 10-15% portfolio allocation to physical gold, a strategy that has already amassed a hoard rivaling G20 central banks.
The Sovereign Stack
The numbers strip away any ambiguity about Tether’s market weight. The issuer now holds approximately 140 tons of physical gold, valued at roughly $24 billion with spot prices hovering near record highs of $5,300/oz.
This isn’t a passive hedge. Tether is aggressively accumulating, purchasing 1-2 tons of bullion weekly. For context, this purchase velocity places the stablecoin issuer second only to Poland’s central bank in global procurement rankings for the last quarter.
“For our own portfolio, it’s reasonable that we are going to have around 10% in Bitcoin and 10% to 15% in gold,” Ardoino stated. “We will soon become one of the largest ‘gold central banks’ in the world.”
Beyond the Peg
While U.S. Treasuries remain the liquidity bedrock for the $187 billion circulating supply of USDT, this diversification signals a defensive entrenchment against fiat debasement. The allocated gold serves a dual purpose: it fortifies Tether’s surplus equity, which absorbs volatility, and aligns the issuer with Basel III capital preservation strategies typically reserved for nation-states.
The move also dwarfs the company’s retail-focused gold product. While Tether Gold (XAUT) dominates the tokenized metal market with ~16.2 tons under custody, the firm’s corporate reserves now hold nearly 8x that amount in vaulted bullion.
Institutional Gravity
The timing correlates with macro anxiety. With Bitcoin consolidating near $89,000 and gold shattering nominal records, Tether is effectively partially re-pegging the crypto economy to hard assets. By holding more gold than Australia or Greece, Tether has insulated itself from purely digital systemic shocks, forcing regulators to view its balance sheet through a commodities lens rather than just securities.
