Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, has significantly expanded its gold reserves, highlighting a move toward hard-asset backing during uncertain times in both crypto and traditional finance.
Tether Expands Gold-Backed Stablecoin Reserves
Gold prices surpassed $5,000 per ounce for the first time on Monday, reaching a brief high near $5,110 as demand for safe-haven assets grew.
Tether reported a major increase in its gold holdings during the fourth quarter of 2025. Its gold-backed stablecoin, XAU₮, saw rapid growth throughout the year, with its total market value rising from about $1.3 billion to over $4 billion.
According to Tether’s attestation report, this growth was driven by record gold prices, increasing geopolitical tensions, and rising demand from both institutional investors and crypto users for fully on-chain safe-haven assets. Tether Gold became the leading issuer in this sector, making up roughly 60% of the total circulating supply.
By the end of the fourth quarter, Tether’s physical gold reserves totaled 520,089.350 fine troy ounces. Each XAU₮ token is backed one-to-one by a fine troy ounce of physical gold. At current prices, these holdings are worth approximately $2.25 billion.
Crypto Giant Ranks Among Top 30 Global Gold Holders
Tether confirmed that all its gold is securely stored in Switzerland and fully complies with the London Good Delivery standards set by the London Bullion Market Association, a key benchmark for institutional gold custody.
The scale of Tether’s accumulation has placed the company among the world’s major gold holders. Based on data from the International Monetary Fund and a Jefferies report from late 2025, Tether now ranks within the top 30 global gold holders. Its reserves exceed those of several countries, including Greece, Qatar, and Australia. In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, Tether Gold Investments added about 27 metric tons of gold to its holdings.
Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, stated that the company’s growing role in gold markets comes with significant responsibility. He emphasized that Tether Gold is designed to provide clarity and verifiability at a time when confidence in traditional monetary systems is being tested.
Ardoino noted that each XAU₮ token represents physical gold stored in a vault, which can be independently verified on-chain. He added that the product’s rapid growth reflects increasing expectations for tokenized assets to meet the same standards as sovereign and institutional reserves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about Tethers significant increase in gold reserves designed to be clear and helpful for a range of readers
Beginner General Questions
1 What is Tether and what does it have to do with gold
Tether is a company that issues popular cryptocurrencies called stablecoins To help back the value of a newer stablecoin Tether Gold and to diversify its reserves the company holds physical gold bars in secure vaults
2 What exactly happened in the fourth quarter
Tether announced it purchased an additional 27 metric tons of physical gold This brought its total gold holdings to approximately 107 tons by the end of the quarter
3 How much is 27 tons of gold worth
The value fluctuates with the gold price At a price of 2300 per ounce 27 metric tons is worth roughly 20 billion This was a major strategic investment
4 Why is Tether buying so much gold
Tether has stated several reasons to diversify its reserves to strengthen the backing of its stablecoins and because it views gold as a stable longterm store of value amidst economic uncertainty
5 Where is this gold stored
The gold is stored in secure professional vaults in Switzerland Tether uses a thirdparty custodian and publishes the serial numbers of its gold bars for public verification
Intermediate InvestorFocused Questions
6 Does this affect the value of USDT
Indirectly yes Tethers overall reserves are now more diversified and include a significant hard asset This is intended to increase confidence that all Tether tokens are fully backed by a robust mix of assets even though USDT is primarily backed by cash and cash equivalents
7 What is Tether Gold and how is it related
Tether Gold is a separate cryptocurrency token where 1 XAUT 1 troy ounce of gold on a specific London Good Delivery bar The newly purchased gold directly increases the physical backing for XAUT making it more secure and scalable