Tether announced that it made a net profit of approximately $1.04 billion in the first quarter of 2026. According to the quarter-end report published by the company, gold assets now constitute a significant portion of Tether’s total reserves. When the reserves supporting the USD₮ stablecoin are examined as of March 31, 2026, it is seen that the company’s excess reserve amount reached 8.23 billion dollars, reaching its highest level ever.
Distribution of Reserves and Noticeable Increases
According to the data announced by the company, Tether’s total assets were 191.8 billion dollars at the end of March 31, 2026, while its total liabilities were 183.5 billion dollars. Almost all of these liabilities arise from the USD₮ tokens released. Thus, the company’s assets exceed its liabilities by approximately $8.2 billion.
Most of the reserves are invested in short-term treasury bills belonging to the US government. Tether’s total direct and indirect exposure to US treasury bills amounted to $141 billion. With this amount, the company became the 17th institution in the world that holds the most US treasury bonds. Due to the heavy use of USD₮, Tether keeps its reserves mainly in short-term government bonds to avoid any problems with repayments.
Gold and Bitcoin Assets Featured
Tether’s reserves are not limited to bonds only. While assets on the gold side reached approximately 20 billion dollars, it was announced that all of this amount consisted of physical gold. The company also stated that its Bitcoin reserve is around 7 billion dollars. Thus, Tether has made a serious investment in both the leading store of value in traditional markets and the largest asset in the cryptocurrency market.
The company has separated its own investments with the actual reserves backing the USD₮ tokens. Investments are funded by the company’s excess capital and are not directly included in stablecoin support. It was stated that this practice does not have any negative impact on the liquidity of USD₮ and the transparency of reserves.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement: “Our responsibility is to make sure that USD₮ will work without disruption under any circumstances. That’s why we have to set up our system so that the product works the same way even if the markets shake.” he said.
It was reported that the circulating supply of USD₮ reached record levels in April and an additional 5 billion units were released into the market in the second quarter. Ardoino linked this demand with the implementation of Tether Wallet. He pointed out that this application, where users can manage their own keys, further expands the daily use of USD₮.
Impact of Commodity and Political Developments
While a significant increase was observed in Tether’s gold assets, political risks in global markets continued to put pressure on gold prices. Due to the recent tension between the USA and Iran, gold fell by 1.2 percent during the session. This decline also affects the central banks’ expectation of interest rate cuts.
Former US President Donald Trump stated that the naval blockade on Iran will continue. Iran, on the other hand, requires ending the blockade in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This crisis, which started at the end of February, caused gold to decline by 13 percent in the last two months.
However, the fastest daily rise against the yen and the Japanese government’s intervention in the market played a role in increasing the demand for gold. The weakening of the US dollar caused gold priced in dollars to gain value.
According to the World Gold Council’s report, central banks’ gold purchases in the first quarter of the year reached the fastest level in the last year. Analysts think that despite the sudden drop in prices, gold can remain strong in the medium-long term.
