Tether Says It Owns 150,000 Bitcoin, but Where Are the Other 50,000 Coins?

TLDR

• Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says the company holds about 150,000 Bitcoin, worth roughly $11.5 billion.
• Tether’s Q3 reserve attestation implies only about 100,060 BTC.
• The gap of roughly 50,000 coins is worth close to $3.8 billion.
• Ardoino did not say where the extra coins are held or when they were bought.
• Tether’s Q3 excess reserve cushion rose to $7.95 billion, nearly double June’s level.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says the company holds about 150,000 Bitcoin. That stake is worth roughly $11.5 billion at current prices. The number is about 50,000 coins higher than what Tether’s latest reserve report shows.

Ardoino made the comment during a keynote at the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano, Switzerland. “We have give or take 150,000 bitcoin ourselves. It’s not much, but it’s honest work,” he said.

Tether has run a Bitcoin and stablecoin adoption program in Lugano since 2022. The company used this year’s event to share several figures about its size and holdings.

Two Numbers, One Gap

Tether’s third-quarter reserve attestation covers the assets that back its USDT stablecoin. It lists $8.37 billion in Bitcoin, valued at $83,621 per coin. That works out to about 100,060 BTC.

The difference between that figure and Ardoino’s claim is close to 50,000 coins. Those coins are worth about $3.8 billion. Tether’s public filings do not yet account for them.

Ardoino did not say where the extra Bitcoin is held. He also did not say when the coins were acquired. His remark does not point to a new purchase of that size.

Tether has long said its corporate Bitcoin investments are kept apart from the reserves that support USDT. The Q3 attestation covers only the assets backing the stablecoin. Ardoino did not give a breakdown of the two pools during his talk.

Bitcoin recently traded near $78,576, down about 3.6% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. The price drop since the end of September means the coins in Tether’s report are now worth less than the $8.37 billion listed.

Tether has been building its Bitcoin stack for years. In May 2023, the company said it would put up to 15% of its net realized operating profits into Bitcoin. It also said it would hold the coins itself instead of using outside custodians.

Large profits have funded those purchases. Tether reported $1.5 billion in net operating profit in the third quarter alone. It has posted billion-dollar quarterly profits throughout the year as USDT supply has kept growing.

Reserve Cushion Nearly Doubles

The Q3 report shows $191.45 billion in assets against $183.50 billion in liabilities. That leaves an excess cushion of $7.95 billion. In June, the buffer stood at $4.11 billion.

U.S. Treasury bills make up most of the reserves. They total about $132.4 billion, according to the report.

Tether has faced years of questions about whether USDT is fully backed. For most of its history, the company has published quarterly attestations rather than full financial audits.

This year, Tether began its first full financial audit with KPMG. The move is a long-awaited step toward addressing doubts about its reserves.

Ardoino also spoke about Tether’s reach at the Lugano event. He said the company now serves more than 730 million users worldwide. Tether is adding roughly 30 million wallets each quarter, he said.

He used the stage to pitch a suite of open-source technologies. Tether funds those projects with its profits.

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