Tether Snaps up Another 8,888 BTC, Now Fifth-Largest Bitcoin Wallet

Tether picked up 8,888 Bitcoin (BTC) on New Year’s Eve, increasing its disclosed Bitcoin stash to more than 96,000 to close out 2025, its CEO Paolo Ardoino said.

The USDt (USDT) stablecoin issuer has become one of the biggest active Bitcoin holders, placing the company’s Bitcoin address as the fifth-largest behind Binance, Robinhood, and Bitfinex and ranking second among privately held corporate BTC treasuries.

The move is part of a pattern of Tether’s quarterly Bitcoin accumulations. The company has been funneling up to 15% of its earnings into Bitcoin every three months. The latest batch was worth about $780 million at the time of acquisition.

Related: Tether Gold rides bullion boom as central banks, ETFs rush to accumulate

​Tether’s gold and reserve mix

Bitcoin is not the company’s only hard asset bet. Tether purchased 26 tons of gold in Q3 2025, which was a larger quarterly acquisition than any reporting central bank and placed its total holdings at 116 tons, among the world’s top 30 gold holders.

That mix of US Treasurys, Bitcoin and gold has drawn scrutiny from ratings agencies and analysts, with S&P recently cutting USDT’s score from “constrained” to “weak,” over transparency and concentration risks. Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes raised red flags over the growing Bitcoin and gold share of reserves.

Tether’s Bitcoin holdings have also dropped occasionally throughout the year. After its first quarter purchase, it had over 100,000 BTC. Its fluctuating Bitcoin balance led pundits to speculate that the company was selling Bitcoin.

Still, Ardoino denied the claims and said that it had contributed to “XXI,” referring to Twenty One Capital, a Tether-backed company.

Twenty One Capital held 43,514 BTC as of New Year’s Day, ranking it as the third-largest Bitcoin bag among public companies behind Mara Holdings and Strategy.

Related: DWF Labs’ physical gold trade signals crypto capital’s move into commodities

​Corporate Bitcoin land grab

The year-end allocation also comes in the middle of a broader corporate Bitcoin land grab. Japan-listed Metaplanet added another 4,279 BTC on Tuesday to take its treasury to 35,102 BTC.

Strategy also continued to raise equity and debt to expand what is already the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, pushing its stack above 670,000.