According to Woofun AI, Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, officially revealed that it has deposited around 150,000 BTC on its balance sheet. The size of this holding not only far exceeds that of mainstream Bitcoin digital asset custody strategy companies such as Japan's Metaplanet and American Strive (ASST.US), but also more than three times the holdings of the latter two, marking a structural shift in Tether's position in the field of crypto asset reserves. In a keynote speech at the “PlanB Forum” held in Lugano, Switzerland, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed this data, revealing the company's strategic intention to lean towards decentralized value storage assets on a large scale while maintaining the stability of the dollar.
Judging from the horizontal comparison of position structures, Tether's BTC reserves showed an overwhelming advantage. Although Strategy (MSTR.US), a typical Bitcoin escrow strategy company, revealed in data disclosed on the 2nd that it bought 811 BTC last week, climbing its total holdings to 849,327, this figure is only equivalent to 17.7% of Tether's holdings. In comparison, Japan's Metaplanet currently holds 44,000 BTC, Tether-backed Twenty One Capital (XXI.US) holds 43,514 BTC, while Strive holds 43,124 BTC.
According to data compiled by Woofun AI, Tether's BTC holdings are 3.4 times that of Metaplanet and 3.5 times that of Strive, respectively. This difference in magnitude stems from Tether's unique attributes as an unlisted stablecoin issuer. Instead of leveraging and expanding BTC holdings by issuing shares or preferred shares like listed custodian companies, it relies on stable cash flow to accumulate endogenously. Since May 2023, Tether has implemented a strict capital allocation policy whereby up to 15% of its realized net operating profit is directed to the purchase of BTC.
The core logic behind this decision is the absolute scarcity of the BTC supply and its undisturbed nature of specific countries' monetary policies, making it an ideal hedge against inflation. Paolo Ardoino further explained this asset allocation concept in an interview with Reuters in January, pointing out that allocating about 10% of the company's own investment portfolio on BTC while allocating 10% to 15% on gold is a reasonable range to maintain long-term purchasing power.
Tether's asset strategy is not a single bet on BTC, but rather a complex system with highly liquid assets as the base and inflation-resistant assets as a moat. According to information disclosed by Tether at the end of September, the amount of US short-term treasury bonds directly held is about 122.8 billion US dollars (about 163 trillion won). If various treasury bond assets including repurchase agreement bonds are included in the statistics, the total value is about 132.4 billion US dollars (about 176 trillion won).
This combination strategy aims to meet the daily exchange needs of USDT through highly liquid US bond assets, ensure the credit anchoring of stablecoins, and use BTC and gold to preserve and increase long-term asset value. Notably, Tether's 150,000 BTC holdings are not all USDT guarantee reserves; its investment landscape extends to BTC mining and technical infrastructure. Paolo Ardoino detailed the technical idea called the “Independence Stack” at this event, which covers key technology nodes such as energy production, BTC mining, peer-to-peer communication, self-hosted wallets, and built-in artificial intelligence in devices. Its core strategic intention is to reduce reliance on centralized financial and technology services, thereby establishing an autonomous and controlled infrastructure ecosystem. He claims that Tether has more than 730 million global users, and about 30 million new wallets are created every quarter. Although this number of users is an estimate, and the actual number of unique users may be biased, its large user base supports potential demand for infrastructure expansion.
As Tether continues to invest the huge amount of money it has earned in the stablecoin business into BTC and related infrastructure, its role positioning is undergoing a fundamental shift. From a simple dollar-linked token issuer to a corporate entity with huge BTC reserves and deep participation in the construction of underlying technology, this trend reflects the evolution of stablecoin issuers' survival strategies under the double pressure of regulatory uncertainty and fiat currency inflation. Tether's closed-loop ecosystem built through the “Independence Stack” not only strengthens its direct influence on the BTC network, but also provides a realistic path for the independent operation of future decentralized financial infrastructure.
This leap from financial intermediaries to infrastructure providers may reshape the crypto industry's perception of stablecoin issuers' risk exposure and ability to capture value.