Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, added about 27 metric tons of gold to its holdings in the fourth quarter of 2025, it said on Monday, largely unchanged from third-quarter purchases that analysts estimated at 26 tons.
An 18% year-to-date rise in gold prices, with growth of 64% in 2025, saw gold break through key psychological resistance levels at $3,000 an ounce in March, $4,000 in October and $5,000 on Monday on strong investment, central bank and retail demand amid rising global tensions.
As spot gold prices have recovered, the crypto firm has become a significant source of demand for gold due to the high speed it has reported for the reserves backing stablecoin Tether USDT, a digital dollar with $187 billion worth of tokens in circulation, and gold token Tether XAUT, worth $2.7 billion.
Each dollar token issued by Tether is intended to represent one US dollar held in reserve. When a user Tethers a dollar, the firm issues one USDT and holds an asset of equivalent value, such as US Treasury bills. Those reserves are meant to ensure that USDT can be exchanged for dollars if needed. Stablecoin Tether XAUT is fully gold-backed.
“We are operating at a level that now puts the Tether Gold Investment Fund alongside sovereign gold holders, and that carries real responsibility,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in Tether’s statement, according to SEEbiz.
By comparison, Poland’s central bank, the most active buyer among central banks that report their purchases, increased its total reserves by 35 tonnes in the fourth quarter to 550 tonnes.
Tether did not say how much total gold it has stored in Switzerland for the two products.
For Tether’s gold token, XAUT, which accounts for 60% of the global gold-backed stablecoin supply, Tether held 16.2 tonnes of gold as backing at the end of December.
Its audit of reserves for Tether’s dollar-denominated stablecoin, USDT, in the third quarter, the most recent publicly available, showed gold inventories at the end of September were worth $12.9 billion, which would be equivalent to about 104 tons of gold at the market price at the time.
The reserves backing Tether USDT were dominated by US Treasuries, with gold representing just 7% at the end of September.
