Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, just bought a whopping 8,888 Bitcoins! That’s about $735 million worth at the time of the purchase.
A Massive Bitcoin Haul
This purchase was reported by Arkham Intelligence, showing Tether moving the Bitcoin from Bitfinex, its sister company and a major cryptocurrency exchange. After this buy, Tether now holds a staggering 92,647 Bitcoins, worth around $7.7 billion. This makes them one of the biggest Bitcoin holders around.
Building a Bitcoin Reserve
Tether’s been steadily increasing its Bitcoin holdings recently. This latest purchase puts them firmly in the top Bitcoin holders, ranking as the sixth-largest overall and second-largest private holder (behind Block.one). While some publicly traded companies and Bitcoin ETFs hold even more, Tether’s stash is still incredibly significant.
Why the Bitcoin Focus?
Tether’s commitment to Bitcoin is clear. They’ve pledged to use 14% of their net profits to buy more Bitcoin, a commitment made in May 2023. This recent purchase follows a similar, albeit smaller, buy of 8,404 Bitcoin last December.
New USDT Tokens Minted
Interestingly, this Bitcoin purchase happened around the same time Tether minted a fresh $1 billion worth of USDT tokens on the Tron blockchain. Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, confirmed this minting, clarifying that these new tokens aren’t yet in circulation and are being held in reserve for future use. This adds to the billions of USDT Tether has already minted this year.
