Tether Bolsters Bitcoin Reserves with $1B Acquisition, Nears 110K BTC Holdings

Stablecoin giant Tether has added 8,888.88 Bitcoin (BTC) to its reserve wallet just at the close of Q3 2025, according to on-chain data from Nansen and Arkham. 

The transaction, flagged at 11:06 a.m. UTC Tuesday from a Bitfinex hot wallet, totaled about US$1 billion (AU$1.53 billion) at current prices. The receiving address, beginning “bc1qj,” is tied to Tether’s previous quarterly transfers and now ranks among the ten largest single BTC addresses. 

While the number seems quite specific, Tether executed a similar 8,888 BTC move at the end of Q1, consistent with its policy of allocating 15% of net profits into Bitcoin each quarter, announced in May 2023.

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“Yeah…” Says Tether CEO

Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, known for being detailed with words, acknowledged the acquisition with a brief “yeah” in response to an X post tracking the move. 

So, being a purchase rather than an internal transfer, that means Tether’s holdings have risen to nearly 109,410 BTC, valued at about US$12.4 billion (AU$19 billion). That positions the firm behind Block One’s 164,000 BTC (US$18.5 billion / AU$28.3 billion) and Strategy’s 640,031 BTC (US$72 billion / AU$110.3 billion). Its affiliated company, Twenty One, controls another 43,514 BTC worth US$4.9 billion (AU$7.5 billion).

Ardoino previously disclosed that Tether’s reserves include more than 100,000 BTC and over 50 tons of gold.

All in all, the firm now manages over US$127 billion (AU$194.7 billion) in US Treasury bonds, placing it among the world’s top 20 holders. That’s even more than several sovereign states.

Tether reported profits of about US$1 billion (AU$1.53 billion) in Q1 2025 and continues to expand into AI, mining and recently launched USAT, a US-regulated stablecoin targeted at domestic users.

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