Author: Nancy, PANews
Gold is going wild. In less than a month since the beginning of the year, funds from all directions have been aggressively buying in, pushing gold prices to new historical highs repeatedly.
In this carnival feast of precious metals, a "hidden big player" has unexpectedly come into view: stablecoin giant Tether has quietly accumulated a gold reserve of 140 tons.
Holding 140 tons of gold, aiming to become the world's largest gold-holding central bank.
Tether, which is said to have "a mine at home," is becoming a major player in the gold market.
"We will soon become one of the largest 'gold central banks' in the world, so to speak," said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, recently expressing his ambitions without reservation in an interview with Bloomberg.
This is not mere speculation. As of now, Tether has accumulated approximately 140 tons of physical gold, valued at around $23 billion at current prices. Typically, Tether purchases directly from Swiss refineries and leading global financial institutions. Large metal orders often take several months to deliver. Once received, the gold is stored in a nuclear bunker built in Switzerland during the Cold War, protected by multiple layers of thick steel doors. Additionally, Switzerland is renowned for having the world's most advanced system of confidentiality.
In terms of scale, Tether has become the largest known physical gold holder outside the banking system and national entities, entering the top 30 global gold holders, with holdings exceeding those of multiple countries including Greece, Qatar, and Australia.
Although Tether began investing in gold assets many years ago, it was in 2025 that the company truly entered the market on a large scale. Last year alone, Tether purchased over 70 tons of gold, making it one of the top three global gold buyers this year. The scale of its purchases not only exceeded that of nearly all individual central banks, except for Poland's central bank, but also surpassed that of many large gold ETFs.
It can be said that the rise in gold prices this year has also been significantly driven by Tether.
According to Ardoino, Tether is currently purchasing gold at a rate of approximately 1 to 2 tons per week and plans to maintain this pace for the next few months, "perhaps slowing down, but we will assess the demand for gold on a quarterly basis."
However, Tether's ambitions go beyond merely holding gold. In an interview with Bloomberg, Ardoino stated that Tether is evaluating the market and potential trading strategies, planning to actively trade its gold reserves to capture arbitrage opportunities. At the same time, the company is working to build "the best gold trading floor in the world," aiming to establish a stable and long-term channel for acquiring gold and competing with major banks such as JPMorgan Chase and HSBC, which dominate the global precious metals market.
To this end, Tether made a high-profile introduction of two senior trading veterans last year: Vincent Domien, former global head of metal trading at HSBC, and Mathew O’Neill, former head of precious metals procurement for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, specifically to expand its gold business operations. (Related reading:TEDA's Golden Empire: The Ambitions and Fractures of a "Borderless Central Bank")
Upstream in the industry chain, Tether has also begun using financial power to secure positions. Tether has successively invested in several medium-sized Canadian gold mining royalty companies, including Elemental Royalty, Metalla Royalty & Streaming, Versamet Royalties, and Gold Royalty. Through equity investments, Tether is locking in future production capacity and profit-sharing rights.
At the financial product level, Tether introduced the gold-backed stablecoin Tether Gold (XAU₮) as early as 2020. As of the end of last year, the token was supported by 16.2 tons of physical gold. More recently, Tether also launched a new denomination unit for XAU₮ called Scudo, with 1 Scudo representing one-thousandth of a troy ounce of gold, aiming to make gold a more convenient means of payment.
According to CoinGecko data, as of January 28, the circulating market capitalization of XAU₮ has reached $2.7 billion, representing an increase of approximately 91.3% over the past year. It holds a 49.5% market share in the tokenized gold sector, firmly ranking first.
From accumulating physical gold reserves to laying out an industrial chain, and further to innovating financial products, this gold enthusiast's bold investments have even left traditional commodity industry professionals exclaiming that they "can't make sense of it." Some have described Tether as "the strangest company we've ever encountered."
But now, as gold prices continue to hit new highs, Tether's bet is yielding astonishing returns.
Earning $15 Billion Annually, Building a Capital Arsenal
The confidence behind Tether's aggressive gold accumulation comes from a high-speed "money-printing machine."
According to Fortune, Tether generated approximately $1.5 billion in net profit in 2025, a significant increase from the $1.3 billion in the previous year. Remarkably, this massive profit was achieved with a global workforce of only about 200 employees. A rough calculation shows that the profit per employee reached as high as $75 million, an astonishing level of efficiency that leaves traditional financial giants far behind.
At the core of this profitability is the stablecoin business, which generates a pool of deposited funds.
Today, Tether's USDT, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, has become the most widely used stablecoin globally, with user numbers exceeding 500 million. According to CoinGecko data, as of January 28, 2026, the circulation of Tether's USDT approached $187 billion, firmly securing its position as the leading stablecoin. Transaction activity also remains at the forefront: Artemis Analytics data shows that total stablecoin trading volume in 2025 increased by 72% to $33 trillion, with USDT contributing $13.3 trillion, representing over 33% of the total.
Based on this, Tether is further expanding its capital reserve scale through compliance.
On January 27, Tether officially launched USAT, a stablecoin regulated by the U.S. federal government. It is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, the first stablecoin issuer regulated at the federal level in the United States. Cantor Fitzgerald serves as the designated reserve custodian and preferred primary dealer, while former White House advisor Bo Hines has been appointed as CEO. This move is seen as a crucial step for Tether in fully entering the U.S. domestic market.
At the same time, Tether is attempting to integrate its USAT business into a traffic ecosystem by investing in content platforms such as Rumble, aiming to quickly reach 100 million U.S. users and setting a target of achieving a $1 trillion market capitalization within five years. If this progresses smoothly, USAT could become the first real competitor to USDC in the U.S. market.
After obtaining liabilities at almost zero cost, Tether easily profits from the interest rate differential by allocating high liquidity, low-risk assets.
Among these, U.S. Treasury interest is the core source of Tether's earnings. During a high-interest-rate cycle, U.S. Treasury interest directly enhances Tether's profitability. Currently, Tether holds approximately $135 billion in U.S. Treasury securities, surpassing sovereign countries like South Korea and becoming the 17th largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds globally.
At the same time, Tether is also a major player in Bitcoin. Since 2023, Tether has been investing up to 15% of its monthly net profit into regular Bitcoin purchases. Its current holdings exceed 96,000 BTC, making it one of the largest institutional Bitcoin holders globally, with an average cost of about $51,000—significantly lower than the current market price. Around the Bitcoin ecosystem, Tether has also built its own mining operations, invested in mining companies, and laid out plans for DAT (Digital Asset Treasury), continuously expanding its influence in the industry. This has even led to conspiracy theories overseas, labeling Tether as a "hidden hand" behind BTC price movements. (Related reading:Caught in the BTC Hidden Manipulator Conspiracy Theories? Unveiling Tether's Comprehensive Bitcoin Strategy)
In addition, to unlock more potential gains, Tether has been generously investing in recent years, extending its investment reach into areas such as satellite communications, AI data centers, agriculture, telecommunications, and media.
As a result, an arbitrage machine spanning traditional finance and the cryptocurrency world has gradually taken shape, continuously supplying Tether with capital ammunition, becoming the chips on which it heavily bets.