Tether Holdings, the company that issues the largest stablecoin USDT, reported net profit of $2.5 billion in the third quarter of the year, bringing year-to-date profit to $7.7 billion. The company also said it has over $6 billion in excess reserves.
The market value of Tether’s USDT token in circulation has climbed to almost $120 billion, as demand for stablecoins rose during the crypto bull market.
Most of the reserves backing USDT are invested in Treasury bills, allowing Tether to generate profits from the interest they pay. Its direct and indirect ownership of Treasuries increased to over $102 billion in Q3.
Some $1.3 billion of the profits derived from yield on Treasuries, while another $1.1 billion was thanks to the unrealized appreciation of the company’s gold holdings in the reserve, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in an X post.
Tether said has invested $7.7 billion of profit into areas such as renewable energy, Bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, and education. Tether’s investing arm owns an additional 7,100 Bitcoin as of Sept. 30.
In February 2021, Tether agreed to publish quarterly reports on its reserves as part of a settlement with US authorities over allegations that it hid the loss of funds and lied about reserves in prior years.