Tether entered 2026 as one of the top five largest holders of Bitcoin (BTC).
The issuer of stablecoin USDT purchased 8,888 BTC on Dec. 31, 2025. As of Jan. 1, those reserves were valued between $8.4 billion and $8.5 billion.
The acquisition, worth around $779 million at the time, brought Tether’s disclosed Bitcoin holdings to more than 96,000 BTC.
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The purchase aligns with Tether’s broader reserve strategy, which includes Bitcoin as a core asset alongside cash, U.S. Treasuries, and gold. The company supports more than $140 billion worth of USDT tokens in circulation.
Tether has consistently allocated up to 15% of its quarterly profits toward Bitcoin purchases, complementing its investments in physical gold and other reserve assets.
However, the move comes amid renewed scrutiny over Tether’s transparency. In December, S&P Global downgraded the stablecoin’s rating to 5 (weak), “5 (weak)”, the lowest grade on its five-point stablecoin risk scale introduced in 2023.
The agency cited “persistent gaps in disclosure” and a rising share of “high-risk assets” in Tether’s reserves, which include Bitcoin, gold, corporate bonds, secured loans and other investments.
In response, Tether said it:
“Strongly disagrees with the characterization presented in the report.”
The firm pointed to its history of maintaining full stability and allowing redeemability of USDT while withstanding banking crises, exchange failures, liquidity shocks, and extreme market swings.
Tether has also been quietly accumulating physical gold as part of its diversified reserve strategy. As of the third quarter of 2025, Tether holds about 116 metric tons of physical gold, with a market value in the low-double-digit billions of dollars. This accumulation places it ahead of almost all private entities and rival investment funds, making it the largest non-sovereign (private) gold holder in the world, even compared with gold ETFs and private investors.
The Bitcoin acquisition comes a month after Tether shut down its Bitcoin mining operations in Latin America.
In November, Tether announced it would shutter its Bitcoin mining operations in Uruguay after failing to secure favorable energy pricing. The company had previously touted plans to use renewable energy sources for mining in the region.
