Tether Records $1.48 Billion Profits and Increased Bitcoin and Gold Reserves in Q1 2023 Report

The issuer of the USDT stablecoin reported a profit of $1.48 billion in the first quarter of 2023, according to its latest assurance report.

Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, announced a net profit of $1.48 billion for the first quarter of 2023.

According to its latest assurance report, Tether reported a total of $81.8 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of March 31, 2023, a significant increase from the roughly $67 billion reported at the end of 2022. The report also shows that Tether had a net income of $1.48 billion in the first quarter of 2023, which represents a 22% increase from the previous quarter.

The company broke out for the first time the details of its bitcoin (BTC) and gold holdings in its consolidated reserves report. The report reveals that Tether held $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin on its balance sheet as of March 31, 2023, which accounts for about 2% of its total reserves. This is a significant increase from the $900 million worth of bitcoin that Tether reported at the end of 2022. The report also shows that Tether held $3.4 billion worth of gold, or about 4% of its total reserves, up from $2.8 billion at the end of 2022.

The increase in Tether's bitcoin and gold holdings reflects the company's strategy to diversify its reserves and take advantage of the rising prices of these assets. Bitcoin has increased by more than 50% since the start of 2023, reaching a new all-time high of over $42,000 in April. Gold has also gained more than 10% since January, trading above $1,900 per ounce.

Tether's growth has been fueled by the increasing demand for stablecoins as a means of transacting in the crypto markets, as well as the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms that use stablecoins as collateral. Tether's USDT token is the most widely adopted stablecoin across major exchanges, OTC desks, and wallets. It is also the most actively traded token by volume, accounting for more than half of all crypto trading volume.

Tether's transparency report comes amid increased scrutiny of stablecoins by regulators, who are concerned about their potential impact on financial stability and possible use by criminal, and a turbulent period for the $131 billion stablecoin market, when several tokens lost their dollar pegs in a knock-on effect as the U.S. banking crisis hit Circle’s USDC, the second largest dollar-pegged stablecoin. The New York Department of Financial Services also forced fintech firm Paxos to stop issuing the third-largest stablecoin, Binance USD (BUSD), in February, while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was reportedly probing the firm for issuing BUSD as unregistered security.

Tether’s dollar-pegged USDT token has been one of the clear winners of the calamity, increasing its market capitalization by $16 billion since the start of 2023, or 24% growth. Tether also issues stablecoins pegged to other currencies, such as euro (EURT), yuan (CNHT), yen (JPYT), and pound (GBPT).