Tether, the issuer of USDt and the world’s largest stablecoin, reported a sharp decline in profitability in 2025 even as its holdings of U.S. Treasuries climbed to record levels.
According to a report released Friday and prepared by accounting firm BDO, Tether posted net profits of more than $10 billion in 2025, roughly $3 billion less than the $13 billion it recorded in 2024—a year-over-year drop of about 23%.
At the same time, the company said its direct U.S. Treasury holdings surpassed $122 billion in 2025, the highest level in its history. Tether said the increase reflects an ongoing shift toward highly liquid, low-risk assets.
The company issued $50 billion worth of new USDt over the past 12 months, with Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino saying demand surged as global appetite for U.S. dollars increasingly moved outside traditional banking channels.
USDt adoption has been especially strong in regions with slow, fragmented, or hard-to-access financial systems, Ardoino said, adding that the stablecoin has “become the most widely adopted monetary social network in the history of humanity.”
Market participants closely monitor Tether’s financial disclosures given USDt’s central role in the crypto ecosystem. The stablecoin is currently the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization—behind Bitcoin and Ether—with a value of about $185.51 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Tether’s profitability and reserve composition are often viewed as indicators of confidence in the stablecoin market, particularly for traders and exchanges that rely on USDt as a dollar proxy for liquidity and collateral.
Beyond USDt, Tether also issues the gold-backed stablecoin XAUt and has been steadily increasing its gold reserves. As of September 2025, the company reported roughly $12 billion in gold exposure. This includes 520,089 troy ounces of gold backing XAUt—around 16.2 metric tons—held separately from a broader reserve of approximately 130 metric tons, valued at about $22 billion at current prices.
“Tether maintains approximately 130 metric tons of physical gold, and the gold backing each XAUt token is held separately and remains eligible for physical delivery redemption,” a Tether spokesperson said.
