Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has significantly increased its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, making two large transfers totaling approximately $1 billion from Bitfinex's hot wallets to its reserve address.
Key Takeaways from the On-Chain Activity
- Massive Acquisition: Tether executed two transactions, transferring roughly 961 BTC and then another 8,888 BTC, increasing its total reserve holdings to 87,296 BTC, valued at about $8.9 billion at current prices.
- Ranking: This move establishes Tether as the sixth-largest Bitcoin holder globally among companies and the second-largest among private entities, trailing only Block.one.
- Buying the Dip: Unlike its usual trend of allocating profits at the end of a quarter, this mid-quarter transfer suggests Tether was strategically buying into the dip after BTC briefly traded below $100,000 earlier in the week. The move signals long-term confidence in Bitcoin.
Tether's BTC Strategy and Profitability
- Reserve Strategy: Since 2023, Tether has adopted a strategy of allocating 15% of its net profits toward Bitcoin reserves to serve as a hedge against inflation and to strengthen its balance sheet.
- Unrealized Profits: Tether's average acquisition price for its total BTC reserve is estimated to be around $49,121 per BTC. With BTC currently trading above $102,000, the firm's unrealized profit on its BTC holdings has jumped to roughly $4.55 billion.
- Stablecoin Dominance: Tether remains the dominant stablecoin issuer, with a market capitalization of $183.3 billion, far surpassing Circle's USDC ($75 billion).
The increased BTC allocation comes shortly after Tether reported a record net profit of over $10 billion by the end of Q3, underscoring its robust financial health.
November 2025, Cryptoniteuae