Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed that the agency holds roughly $8 billion in gold in a Swiss vault throughout an interview with Bloomberg Information on July 7.
Ardoino known as the location “probably the most safe vault on the earth” and mentioned the corporate owns nearly your entire 80-ton stockpile outright, putting the El Salvador-based issuer among the many largest non-public gold holders globally.
In accordance with a March attestation, gold now represents almost 5% of Tether’s $112 billion reserve portfolio. The stash’s greenback worth matches the dear metals e-book at UBS Group AG, one of many few bullion-dealing banks that escape these holdings.
Tether’s USDT reached a market capitalization of $159 billion final month, following almost $5 billion in month-to-month development.
Ardoino argued that Tether can scale a gold program with out proportionally increased charges by self-custodying bullion as a substitute of utilizing business vault operators, which cost about 50 foundation factors.
Regulatory headwinds in key markets
Lawmakers on each side of the Atlantic are transferring in the wrong way. Draft US payments such because the GENIUS Act and Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Belongings (MiCA) framework enable solely money or near-cash devices to collateralize fiat-referenced stablecoins, excluding commodities like gold.
If these guidelines take impact and Tether seeks licenses in these jurisdictions, it must liquidate the bullion that backs USDT, though the corporate may retain metallic tied to its gold-backed token, XAUT.
Notably, MiCA granted licenses to 53 crypto companies within the first six months of regulation however excluded Tether.
XAUT circulates towards 7.7 tons of gold, value roughly $819 million, which is effectively beneath the 950-ton big amongst exchange-traded gold funds however massive sufficient to make redemptions viable at vault doorways in Switzerland.
Ardoino mentioned demand may speed up if traders lose confidence in US fiscal sustainability and search alternate options that keep away from bank-deposit danger whereas remaining on-chain.
Market context and outlook for bullion-linked tokens
Spot gold has superior by roughly 25% in 2025 as merchants hedge tariff-driven commerce friction and wider geopolitical stress.
Ardoino mentioned:
“Each single central financial institution within the BRICS international locations is shopping for gold, so that’s the reason the value went up in our opinion.”
Tether should nonetheless persuade regulators {that a} metal-heavy reserve wouldn’t impede USDT’s liquidity beneath stress.
For now, the agency holds the metallic, earns yield on Treasurys, and retains a separate token immediately convertible into vaulted bars, combining conventional bullion economics with blockchain settlement.
