Tether Reports 2% Of Total Reserves Are in Bitcoin
According to its latest assurance report published on Wednesday, Tether, the issuer of the stablecoin, reported a net profit of $1.48 billion for the first quarter of the year, which is double the amount from the previous quarter.
The company provided a detailed breakdown of its holdings, including Bitcoin and gold, for the first time. As of March 31st, Tether disclosed that it held $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet, accounting for approximately 2% of its reserves valued at around $80 billion.
CEO of JAN3 Samson Mow tweeted that if Tether continued to purchase Bitcoin at their current rate, they would surpass Microstrategy’s holdings (currently at 140,000 BTC) by the end of this year.
Additionally, the company reported $3.4 billion in gold holdings, representing approximately 4% of its total reserves.
During a tumultuous period for the $131 billion stablecoin market, several tokens lost their dollar pegs as a result of the U.S. banking crisis. Circle's USDC, the second-largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, was particularly affected.
The New York Department of Financial Services also intervened, forcing Paxos to cease issuing the third-largest stablecoin, Binance USD (BUSD), due to concerns about its status as an unregistered security.
Tether's USDt, the leading stablecoin, has experienced impressive growth with its market capitalization increasing by $16 billion since the start of the year (a 24% increase).
Tether reported an excess reserve of approximately $2.44 billion compared to the $79.4 billion worth of Tether-issued tokens in circulation as of March 31st. Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer of Tether, stated in the announcement that this surplus reached an unprecedented peak.
Tether stated that all newly issued tokens were invested in U.S. Treasury bills or placed in overnight repurchase and reverse repurchase facilities. The company held approximately 85% of its reserve assets in cash and cash-like assets, including U.S. Treasury bills and bank deposits.
Tether also further reduced the amount of secured loans in its reserves, trimming them by approximately $500 million to reach $5.3 billion. As promised in December, the company reiterated its commitment to completely divest from these holdings by the end of the year.