Tether CEO Breaks Down $9.45B in BTC and Gold Reserves, but Its Only Part of the Picture

At the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano, Switzerland, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino gave an insight into the financial reserves of Tether, disclosing that the stablecoin heavyweight holds 82,454 BTC and 48.3 tons of gold.

Paolo Ardoino Clarifies Tethers Asset Reserves Following Forum Presentation

This week, tethers market cap soared past $120 billion, making it about 3.47 times larger than its closest competitor, USDC, which sits at $34.65 billion. Ardoino spoke to the audience at the Plan ₿ Forum this weekend, an event where a statue of Satoshi Nakamoto was also unveiled.

Image source: Uquid CEO Tran Hung

In a particular slide picture shared by Uquid‘s CEO Tran Hung, Tether’s reserves were shown to include $5.58 billion in bitcoin (BTC) and $3.87 billion in gold, calculated with Oct. 27 exchange rates. Questions popped up in Hung‘s thread as people noted that Tether’s BTC and gold holdings, totaling $9.45 billion, didn‘t seem to fully match up with the stablecoin’s market backing.

Addressing the confusion on X, Ardoino clarified that Tethers reserves also include U.S. government bonds. “Since I see a lot of confusion in this thread, let me clarify that: – Tether has ~100B in US treasuries. – Plus it has 82k+ BTC and 48T+ of gold,” Ardoino said.

Tether has recently taken center stage following a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that claimed anonymous sources revealed an ongoing U.S. government investigation into the stablecoin issuer. Tether and its CEO, Paolo Ardoino, swiftly pushed back against these claims, firmly stating that the “WSJ is regurgitating old noise.” Tether didnt hold back either, calling the report “wildly irresponsible” and packed with “reckless allegations.”