Tether Transfers $700 Million in Bitcoin to Reserve

Tether, the issuer of the largest fiat-backed stablecoin, has transferred 7,629 BTC — worth approximately $700 million — to its bitcoin reserve address, based on on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence. The tokens were sent from sister exchange Bitfinex’s hot wallet around 14:00 UTC.

This transaction marks the largest transfer to Tether’s strategic bitcoin reserve since March 2024, when it transferred 8,888.88 BTC, as per BitInfoCharts. Previously, Tether also sent 8,888.88 BTC to the reserve on December 31, 2023.

Tether announced in May 2023 its intention to allocate up to 15% of its profits into bitcoin, now holding over $7.6 billion in BTC (over 82,000 coins). This decision aimed to diversify the company’s holdings as it began to print cash during a volatile year.

The company’s primary stablecoin, the dollar-pegged USDT, is mainly backed by U.S. Treasury bonds and other cash equivalents, many of which generate a yield that Tether reinvests. In recent years, Tether has been making efforts to diversify its portfolio, investing in emerging sectors like AI, bitcoin mining, and decentralized communications.

In the first half of 2024, Tether generated a record $5.2 billion profit, as reported by CEO Paolo Ardoino to The Block.

As of now, this multi-million bitcoin transaction has not yet appeared on Tether’s transparency page, which was last updated on December 30, 2024.