Recent debate over Tether’s reserve structure has been reignited by allegations that Tether holds large amounts of gold and Bitcoin, and that a sharp decline in these assets could weaken USDT’s one-to-one collateral balance.
As these comments spread, mainly on social media, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino broke his silence and issued a detailed statement.
Citing the Q3 2025 validation report, Ardoino claimed that Tether has not only accumulated reserves but also very strong group capital. He noted that the company had approximately $7 billion in excess capital at the end of the quarter, exceeding its stablecoin reserves of $184.5 billion. He also noted that Tether Group has approximately $23 billion in retained earnings.
Aggregating this data, Ardoino said Tether Group’s total assets are approximately $215 billion and stablecoin debt is $184.5 billion. The CEO said the biggest mistake some analysts and social media commentators are making is not taking into account this additional group capital and the roughly $500 million in underlying profits that Tether generates each month from U.S. bonds alone.
Ardoino said even international credit rating agency S&P has made similar mistakes, and that some of the claims circulating on social media are not due to “mathematical errors” but rather “competitive motives.”
*This is not investment advice.
