- Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed that his company keeps 80 tons of gold worth $8 billion in a secure location in Switzerland.
- The issuer of the USDT stablecoin also maintains 100,521 BTC in its reserves.
Bloomberg recently uncovered that Tether is not only one of the world’s largest hoarders of Bitcoin (BTC), otherwise referred to as “digital gold” in crypto finance, but it also happens to be one of the largest holders of gold. According to the news outlet, the issuer of the largest stablecoin by market cap, USDT, keeps a secret, high-security vault with 80 metric tons of gold in Switzerland worth $8 billion.
Tether is currently the second-largest private company in Bitcoin holdings, with 100,521 BTC reserves. This places it next to the top holder, Block.one, with a 164,000 BTC haul. The revelation means that the stablecoin issuer is one of the largest non-bank and non-state gold holders globally.
Tether CEO Confirms Massive Gold Treasury
Bloomberg contacted Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, to confirm its findings. The executive indeed confirmed the presence of a company-owned, high-security facility housing its gold reserves. He called it “the most secure vault in the world.”
The interview established that Tether’s gold haul is located in Switzerland. However, Ardoino avoided telling the source the location of its vault for security reasons.
Ardoino explained that they decided to build their own gold vault for cost efficiency. Additionally, it aligned with the company’s roadmap for the expansion of its gold-backed token, XAUT. The facility would give it absolute control in the custody of its gold reserves for the gold-based stablecoin while reducing its custody costs.
“If Tether’s gold token was to grow to $100 billion in circulation… If you have your own vault, eventually with the size, it gets much cheaper to do custody,” Ardoino told Bloomberg.
Strategic Investment in Crystal Intelligence
Meanwhile, Tether revealed on Monday that it formed a new strategic partnership with Crystal Intelligence, a blockchain analytics firm. The collaboration aims to enhance risk monitoring, fraud detection, and regulatory intelligence solutions within the digital finance industry.
Ardoino said in a press release that the move lines up with Tether’s commitment to helping regulators and law enforcement agencies curb illicit activities.
“With the latest in advanced intelligence tools, like those being developed by Crystal Intelligence, we are enhancing our ability to assist authorities in tracing the movement of funds in real-time,” the Tether CEO stated.
Tether prides itself on being instrumental in freezing billions in illicit funds in cooperation with various governments.
