Hoarding 140 Tons of Gold, Earning $15 Billion Annually, Tether Has Hit the Jackpot This Time

Original author: Nancy, PANews

Gold is on a tear. In less than a month into the new year, capital from all corners has been frantically chasing it, driving the price to repeatedly hit new all-time highs.

Amid this precious metals frenzy, an "invisible whale" has unexpectedly entered the scene. The stablecoin giant Tether has quietly amassed a gold reserve of 140 tons.

Holding 140 Tons of Gold, Aiming to Be the World's Largest Gold Central Bank

Tether, which "has a mine at home," is becoming a major player in the gold market.

"We will soon become one of the world's largest 'gold central banks,' so to speak." Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino recently revealed his ambition in an interview with Bloomberg.

This is not just talk. To date, Tether has accumulated approximately 140 tons of physical gold, valued at around $23 billion at current prices. Typically, Tether purchases directly from Swiss refineries and top global financial institutions, with large metal orders often taking months to deliver. Upon arrival, the gold is stored in a Cold War-era nuclear bunker in Switzerland, protected by multiple layers of heavy steel doors, with Switzerland boasting a world-leading confidentiality system.

In terms of scale, Tether has become the world's largest known holder of physical gold outside of the banking system and sovereign nations, ranking among the top 30 global gold holders. Its holdings surpass those of countries like Greece, Qatar, and Australia.

Although Tether began investing in gold assets years ago, its large-scale entry truly happened in 2025. In that year alone, Tether purchased over 70 tons of gold, becoming one of the top three global gold buyers this year. Its procurement scale not only exceeded that of almost every single central bank except Poland's but also surpassed many large gold ETFs.

It's fair to say that Tether has been a significant driver of this year's gold price surge.

According to Ardoino, Tether's current gold purchasing pace is about 1 to 2 tons per week, and it plans to maintain this rhythm in the coming months. "Maybe we'll slow down, but we'll evaluate gold demand quarterly."

But Tether's ambition goes beyond hoarding gold. In the Bloomberg interview, Ardoino stated that Tether is evaluating the market and potential trading strategies, planning to capture arbitrage opportunities through active trading of its gold reserves. Simultaneously, the company is building "the world's best gold trading floor," aiming to establish stable, long-term gold sourcing channels and compete with major banks like JPMorgan Chase and HSBC that dominate the global precious metals market.

To this end, Tether notably brought in two heavyweight trading veterans last year: former HSBC Global Head of Metals Trading Vincent Domien and former Head of Precious Metals Procurement for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Mathew O’Neill, specifically to expand its gold business. (Related reading: Tether's Gold Empire: The Ambition and Cracks of a "Borderless Central Bank")

Upstream in the industry chain, Tether is also using its financial power to secure positions. It has taken stakes in several Canadian mid-sized gold mining royalty companies, including Elemental Royalty, Metalla Royalty & Streaming, Versamet Royalties, and Gold Royalty, locking in future production capacity and revenue shares through equity investments.

At the financial product level, Tether launched the gold-pegged stablecoin Tether Gold (XAU₮) as early as 2020. By the end of last year, this token was backed by 16.2 tons of physical gold. Not long ago, Tether also introduced a new unit of account for XAU₮ called Scudo, where 1 Scudo represents one-thousandth of a troy ounce of gold, aiming to make gold a more usable payment method.

CoinGecko data shows that as of January 28, XAU₮'s circulating market cap has reached $2.7 billion, growing approximately 91.3% over the past year. It holds a 49.5% market share in the tokenized gold sector, firmly ranking first.

From hoarding physical gold to industry chain layout and financial product innovation, this gold enthusiast's massive investments have even left traditional commodities professionals scratching their heads, with some describing Tether as "the weirdest company I've ever encountered."

But now, as gold prices continue to hit new all-time highs, Tether's bet is yielding astonishing returns.

Earning $15 Billion Annually, Building a Capital Arsenal

The confidence behind Tether's frenzied gold accumulation comes from a high-speed "money printing machine."

According to a Fortune report, Tether generated approximately $15 billion in net profit in 2025, a significant increase from $13 billion the previous year. This hundred-billion-dollar profit is supported by a global workforce of only about 200 people. Roughly calculated, the per capita profit is as high as $75 million, a level of efficiency that leaves traditional financial giants in the dust.

The core of this profitability lies in the capital pool accumulated from its stablecoin business.

Today, Tether's US dollar stablecoin USDT is the most widely used stablecoin globally, with a user base exceeding 500 million. CoinGecko data shows that as of January 28, 2026, the circulation of USDT issued by Tether is close to $1.87 trillion, firmly holding the top spot in the stablecoin sector. Its trading activity is also leading. Artemis Analytics data indicates that total stablecoin transaction volume grew 72% to $33 trillion in 2025, with USDT contributing $13.3 trillion, accounting for over 33%.

Building on this, Tether is further expanding its capital accumulation scale through compliance efforts.

On January 27, Tether officially launched the US federally regulated stablecoin USAT. It is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, the first US federally regulated stablecoin issuer, with Cantor Fitzgerald serving as the designated reserve custodian and preferred primary dealer, and former White House advisor Bo Hines appointed as CEO. This is seen as a key step for Tether's full-scale entry into the US domestic market.

Simultaneously, through investments in platforms like Rumble, Tether is attempting to integrate USAT business into traffic ecosystems, aiming to quickly reach 100 million US users and setting a target of a $1 trillion market cap within five years. If successful, USAT could become the first real competitor to USDC in the US market.

After obtaining an almost zero-cost liability side, Tether easily captures interest rate spreads by allocating to highly liquid, low-risk assets.

Among these, US Treasury interest is Tether's core source of income. During a high-interest-rate cycle, US Treasury interest directly amplifies Tether's profitability. Currently, Tether holds approximately $1.35 trillion in US Treasuries, surpassing sovereign nations like South Korea to become the 17th largest holder of US Treasuries globally.

At the same time, Tether is also a super player in Bitcoin. Since 2023, Tether has allocated up to 15% of its monthly net profits to dollar-cost averaging into Bitcoin. Its current holdings exceed 96,000 BTC, making it one of the world's largest institutional Bitcoin holders, with an average cost of around $51,000, far below the current market price. Around the Bitcoin ecosystem, Tether has also built its own mining farms, invested in mining companies, and deployed DATs (Decentralized Autonomous Treasuries), continuously expanding its industry influence, which has also spawned conspiracy theories overseas about it being a "BTC invisible market manipulator."

Furthermore, to leverage more potential returns, Tether has embarked on a massive spending spree over the past few years, extending its investment reach into areas like satellite communications, AI data centers, agriculture, telecommunications, and media.

Thus, an arbitrage machine spanning traditional finance and the crypto world has gradually taken shape, continuously supplying Tether with capital ammunition, becoming the chips for its massive bets.