Tether said it purchased about 27 metric tons of gold during the fourth quarter of 2025, a level broadly in line with analysts' estimates of roughly 26 tons bought in the third quarter. The company made the disclosure in a statement on Monday as part of reporting changes to the assets backing its stablecoins.
The increase in Tether's gold exposure comes amid a strong rally in spot bullion prices: gold has gained 18% year-to-date on top of a 64% advance through 2025. That rally pushed the metal past several psychologically important price points - moving through $3,000 per ounce in March, $4,000 in October and reaching $5,000 on Monday - driven by what the company describes as strong investment, central-bank and retail demand amid mounting global tensions.
As the market price of gold has climbed, Tether has emerged as a material buyer given the speed at which it has added bullion to the reserves backing its tokens. The firm provides both the widely used dollar stablecoin USDT and a gold-backed token, Tether XAUT. USDT has $187 billion of tokens outstanding, while the Tether XAUT token is valued at $2.7 billion.
Each USDT is intended to represent one U.S. dollar held in reserve. When a customer gives Tether a dollar, the company issues one USDT and holds assets of equivalent value - such as U.S. Treasury bills - to back the token. Those reserves are meant to ensure holders can redeem USDT for dollars if required. Separately, Tether XAUT is described as a stablecoin that is fully backed by physical gold.
"We are operating at a scale that now places the Tether Gold Investment Fund alongside sovereign gold holders, and that carries real responsibility," said Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO, in Tether's statement.
For context, Poland's central bank - identified as the most active buyer among central banks that report purchases - increased its total gold reserves by 35 tons in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 550 tons.
Tether did not disclose the aggregate amount of gold it keeps stored in Switzerland for its two products. As of the end of December, the company held 16.2 tons of gold specifically to back the Tether gold token, XAUT, which represents 60% of the global supply of gold-backed stablecoins.
Regarding USDT, the most recent publicly available audit of reserves - covering the third quarter - showed gold holdings valued at $12.9 billion as of the end of September. At the market price then, that sum would have equated to approximately 104 tons of gold. The audit also indicated that the reserves supporting USDT were dominated by U.S. Treasuries, with gold comprising only 7% of the reserve mix as of end-September.
The company ontinues to expand its gold positions while providing limited disclosure on some custody details, leaving the precise total of Swiss-held bullion for its stablecoin products unspecified.
Key points
- Tether added about 27 metric tons of gold in Q4 2025, similar to estimated Q3 purchases of 26 tons.
- Spot gold rallied strongly in 2025 - up 64% - and an additional 18% year-to-date, breaching $3,000, $4,000 and $5,000 per ounce milestones this year.
- Tether backs both USDT ($187 billion outstanding) and XAUT ($2.7 billion) with reserves that include gold and U.S. Treasury bills; XAUT is fully backed by gold.
Risks and uncertainties
- Tether has not disclosed the total amount of gold it stores in Switzerland for USDT and XAUT, leaving some custody details unclear - this affects assessments of reserve location risk.
- The most recent public audit for USDT dates to the end of September and showed gold representing only 7% of USDT reserves, indicating concentration in U.S. Treasuries and potential liquidity composition risks.