Tether Buys Gold Like a Central Bank—Only Faster and Without a Mandate
Tether is rapidly accumulating physical gold, rivaling central bank purchases by converting stablecoin profits into sovereign-scale reserves.Summary
Tether has emerged as an aggressive global gold buyer, accumulating roughly 27 metric tons in Q4 2025, placing it among the top global purchasers for the period, potentially ranking in the top three for the quarter. This accumulation is funded by profits derived from backing its USDT stablecoin with interest-bearing assets like US Treasury bills, effectively turning the crypto firm into a hybrid entity: part stablecoin issuer, part asset manager, and increasingly, a de facto gold accumulator.
Unlike central banks, Tether's buying is not driven by monetary policy but by the yield generated from its $187 billion USDT in circulation. Its gold holdings, valued around $4.4 billion, are also tied to its tokenized gold product, XAUT, which now dominates the gold-backed stablecoin market. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino noted that this scale of buying places their fund alongside sovereign gold holders, raising questions about the implications of private digital dollar issuers setting their own standards for monetary credibility.
(Source：BeInCrypto)