Tether Holds 150,000 Bitcoin, CEO Says—About 50,000 More Than Its Reserve Report Shows

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company holds about 150,000 bitcoin, worth roughly $11.5 billion at recent prices. He made the remark during a keynote at the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano, Switzerland, according to Decrypt and Bitcoin Magazine. Lugano is the city where Tether has run a Bitcoin and stablecoin adoption push. In his words, the company has "give or take 150,000 bitcoin ourselves."

The figure is higher than Tether's own disclosures suggest. Decrypt reports that the company's Q3 reserve report implies about 100,060 BTC. The gap is therefore roughly 50,000 coins, or about $3.8 billion at early November prices. Reports say Ardoino did not explain where the additional coins are held or when they were acquired. Tether says its corporate bitcoin is kept separate from the reserves that back its USDT stablecoin.

The Q3 reserve report is the baseline for the comparison. It was released on Nov. 3. Reports say it shows $191.45 billion in reserve assets against $183.50 billion in liabilities at the end of September. That leaves excess reserves of $7.95 billion, up from $4.11 billion at the end of June. Tether also said it bought an additional 1,130 bitcoin in the third quarter. In 2023 it announced that it would put up to 15% of its operating profit into bitcoin purchases.

Bitcoin Magazine reports that Tether earned about $1.5 billion in the quarter and $4.5 billion over the first nine months of the year. It also says bitcoin, at $8.37 billion, and gold, at about $19.1 billion, together exceed the excess-reserve buffer several times over. That means a sharp drop in either asset could reduce the cushion. The same report says Bitcoin traded near $77,600 on Tuesday. At that price, Tether's stated holdings would be worth about $11.6 billion, and the attested holdings about $7.8 billion.

Bitcoin Magazine also notes that Tether's bitcoin exposure extends beyond its own wallets, and it says it is unclear whether any of those positions are part of the 150,000 figure. Ardoino made the comment in a speech, not in a formal filing. The larger number has not been confirmed by an attestation or audit in the reporting reviewed.

According to Decrypt, Ardoino also used the Lugano stage to describe Tether's scale. He said the company serves more than 730 million users worldwide and is adding roughly 30 million wallets. Separately, FinanceFeeds reports he said mining operations Tether developed with partners have passed 50 exahashes per second of capacity.

The disclosure matters because Tether's USDT is the largest stablecoin, so the makeup of its balance sheet draws close attention from market participants. Whether the extra coins sit on the corporate balance sheet outside the reserves, and how they will be reported in future attestations, are questions the reports reviewed leave open. The next quarterly report may show how the company reconciles the CEO's number with its disclosed holdings.

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