February 9 News, Wall Street investment bank Jefferies stated in its latest report that the company behind the stablecoin USDT, Tether, is accelerating its accumulation of physical gold. Its holdings have surpassed those of several sovereign countries, making it one of the world’s largest non-sovereign gold buyers.
The report shows that as of January 31, Tether’s gold reserves have increased to approximately 148 tons, valued at about $23 billion at current prices. In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, the company purchased about 26 tons of gold, and in January, it continued to add 6 tons. Jefferies believes that the purchase rate this quarter has exceeded that of most central banks, ranking only behind Poland and Brazil.
At its current scale, Tether’s gold holdings have surpassed those of countries like Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Korea, and Greece, placing it among the top 30 largest gold holders globally. Analysts also point out that since Tether is a private company, the disclosed data may be a minimum estimate, and its actual reserves could be higher.
Most of this gold is used to back its dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT and the gold-backed token XAUT. According to Tether’s disclosed Q4 statement, its gold reserves at that time were about 126 tons, worth $17 billion. By the end of January, the supply of XAUT increased to 712,000 tokens, corresponding to about 6 tons of gold and valued at $3.2 billion.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino previously stated that gold-backed products have seen strong retail demand in emerging markets. The company plans to allocate 10% to 15% of its long-term portfolio to physical gold, a strategy it has maintained for many years.
This increase in holdings coincides with gold prices reaching a historic high. Last month, international gold prices broke through $5,000 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of nearly 50% since September last year. Factors driving this include continuous central bank purchases, rising long-term government bond yields, and some investors reducing their reliance on the US dollar.
Jefferies believes that against the backdrop of changes in the global monetary system and inflation expectations, Tether’s “digital assets + physical gold” reserve model is becoming a new paradigm for risk hedging and asset allocation.
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