Overview of Tether's Gold Purchases#
In the first quarter of 2023, Tether, the issuer of the largest stablecoin, purchased approximately 6 metric tons of gold. This is a notable decrease from the 27 tons acquired in the previous quarter, as detailed in their latest quarterly report.
Tether's Gold Reserves#
As of March 31, Tether's gold reserves were valued at $19.8 billion, equivalent to about 132 metric tons at the market price. This is a slight increase from 126 tons at the end of December. Tether's reserves are crucial as they back the value of its stablecoin, USDT, which is designed to maintain a 1:1 value with the U.S. dollar.
Composition of Tether's Reserves#
Tether currently has $189.5 billion worth of USDT tokens in circulation and $3.3 billion in its gold-backed tokens, known as Tether XAUT. Each USDT token is backed by an equivalent amount of U.S. dollars held in reserve. The majority of Tether's reserves consist of U.S. Treasury Bills, totaling $117 billion, while gold represents about 10% of the reserves as of the end of March. Additionally, Bitcoin accounts for $7 billion of the reserves.
Comparison to Global Gold Reserves#
For its gold-backed token XAUT, Tether holds 22 tons of gold, which is an increase of 6 tons since December 31. Overall, Tether's total gold holdings amount to 154 tons across its two products. If Tether were classified as a central bank, it would rank among the top 20 countries globally in terms of gold reserves, just behind Brazil, which holds 172 tons according to the World Gold Council.