protos.com
Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, owns approximately 100,000 bitcoins (BTC), according to its Chief Executive Officer, Paolo Ardoino.
Tether’s attestation for March 31 values its total BTC horde at approximately $7.6 billion, valuing each coin at $82,704.
This same attestation claims that in the Tether reserves, there are approximately $5.6 billion more assets than liabilities — something it calls “equity.”
Read more: Circle vs. Tether: What’s in the reserves?
What this implies is that if BTC were to plummet far enough without Tether selling any of its BTC, it could eliminate this equity and leave Tether without sufficient backing.
The value of all the BTC would need to fall to approximately $2 billion for this to be a problem.
This would be a substantial drop in value from its current price; however, BTC has had larger falls from its peak in previous cycles.
Tether also says it made $13 billion in profit in 2024, most of which wasn’t directed into the reserves but was invested into other businesses.
Read more: Why is Tether 213% bigger than Circle but 8,000% more profitable?
If BTC were to begin to plummet in this way, it seems plausible that Tether would be able to direct a portion of its profits into the reserves to avoid a problem.
Tether includes assets in its reserves that most other stablecoins avoid, including BTC, but also including secured loans, “other investments,” and precious metals like gold.
These assets also potentially increase the risk to Tether reserves in certain situations.