Tether added roughly 27 metric tons of gold to its reserves in the fourth quarter of 2025, placing the stablecoin issuer among the world's largest buyers during the period and rivaling accumulation levels typically seen only among central banks.
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The company's Q4 purchases were broadly in line with its third-quarter buying, which analysts estimated at around 26 tons. A late November report indicated that Tether outbought all central banks, amassing 116 tons of gold in 2025.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the company is likely to rank among the top three buyers globally for the quarter.
"Who's the central bank now? Tether bought more gold than any central bank in Q3 2025, according to official data," Hougan wrote on X. "It's going to be close in Q4 — we're still waiting on final data — but the company will be top 3."
Tether funds its purchases primarily by using profits from backing USDT (USDT), its dollar-pegged stablecoin, with interest-bearing assets such as US Treasury bills. With roughly $187 billion in USDT in circulation, that yield has become a powerful engine of asset accumulation.
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The scale of buying is notable against a backdrop of surging gold prices. Spot gold rose 18% year-to-date on top of a 64% gain in 2025, breaking successive psychological thresholds at $3,000, $4,000, and $5,000 per ounce.
Tether's gold strategy is closely tied to its tokenized gold product, XAUT (XAUT).
The company said XAUT now accounts for around 60% of the global gold-backed stablecoin market, which expanded from roughly $1.3 billion to more than $4 billion in 2025.
As of Dec. 31, Tether held 520,089 fine troy ounces of gold to back XAUT on a strict 1:1 basis, stored in Swiss vaults compliant with London Good Delivery standards.
"We are operating at a scale that now places the Tether Gold Investment Fund alongside sovereign gold holders, and that carries real responsibility," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement. For comparison, Poland's central bank, the most active official-sector buyer reporting its activity, added 35 tons of gold in Q4, bringing its total reserves to 550 tons.
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