Tether continues to diversify as challenges from competition intensify.
Stablecoin issuer Tether is planning to invest in gold mining in what appears to be a further attempt to diversify its business. Financial Times disclosed this in a recent report, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the Financial Times report, the stablecoin issuer wants to invest in the entire gold mining supply chain and has held talks with both mining and investment groups on how to go about its plan.
The firm has reportedly engaged gold royalty companies, which invest in gold mining ventures for a percentage of their earnings. While no major deal is struck yet, many believe this is inevitable.
The firm’s interest in gold goes to the top, where its CEO, Paolo Ardoino, has constantly spoken in support of the precious metal. He considers gold the natural Bitcoin and believes it is a better hedge than any fiat currency.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times report stated that not all insiders of the gold mining industry are convinced by Tether’s foray into their space. While the company already has a strong foothold in the commodities market through providing short-term finance, some believe they do not have a strategy for gold.
Interestingly, Tether investing in gold mining will not be a complete surprise, given that the company has exposure to the precious metal. The stablecoin issuer has $8.7 billion worth of gold in USDT reserves, according to its financial statement.
It also issues a gold-backed token, XAUt, with a market cap of around $880 million. XAUt is trading above $3,500 according to CoinMarketCap, with more than a 35% increase in value year-to-date, coinciding with the physical gold value surging to a new all-time high above $3,600.
Beyond that, its investment arm Tether Investments bought a minority stake in gold royalty company Elemental Altus for $105 million in June. The firm further invested another $100 million into the company this month as it merged with EMX to become Elemental Royalty Corp, a group with 16 producing royalties.
Meanwhile, Tether’s venture into gold mining will mark another foray in the firm’s attempt to diversify and reinvest the profit from its stablecoin business into other ventures.
So far, the company offers lending to commodities traders and has invested in artificial intelligence, a Bitcoin treasury company, a brain-computer interface company, and an agro business. It even bought a stake in the Juventus Football Club and has been trying to have more say in the club’s operations.
The massive diversification efforts from Tether are not completely surprising, given the billions of dollars in profits it generates from its stablecoin business. Last year, the company made over $13 billion in profits, and the first half of 2025 has already seen it earn $5.7 billion in profits.
Despite the sizable profits that the company is earning off its stablecoin business, it faces the existential threat of competitors eating into the market share of USDT. USDT currently has a market cap of over $170 billion, accounting for 59.21% of the total $288 billion in the stablecoins market cap.
This threat has grown stronger in recent months, with the US finally enacting the GENIUS Stablecoin Act, opening the door for traditional financial institutions to issue their own stablecoins. Fintech companies like Stripe are also venturing into the space, launching a layer-1 payment-focused blockchain months after buying stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge.
The firm must also contend with crypto-native competitors such as Circle with USDC and Ripple with RLUSD, who boasts of regulatory compliance as an edge over Tether. Ripple recently disclosed a partnership with fintech firms in Africa to boost the adoption of RLUSD. Emerging markets such as those in Africa are the biggest market for USDT.
