Tether Slightly Reduces Gold Holdings in Q3, Funds Potentially Shifting Toward Bitcoin
nashnova research
Tether's gold reserves fell from 168 to 165 tonnes in Q3, ending a multi-quarter buying streak; Bitcoin holdings rose over the same period, raising questions about whether the largest stablecoin issuer is reallocating assets.
How much gold did Tether shed, and from where?
Per a Jefferies report dated November 3, Tether held roughly 165 tonnes of gold (~$21.9 billion) as of September 30 — down about 3 tonnes from the prior quarter.
The entire reduction came from gold backing USDT reserves; physical gold behind XAU₮ — a crypto token backed one-to-one by physical gold — stayed flat at about 22 tonnes.
A "less metal, higher value" effect appeared: USDT reserve gold rose on paper from ~$18.8 billion to ~$19.1 billion. This means → Q3's gold-price rally offset the tonnage drop, masking the actual reduction in book value.
Why sell gold? Where did the money go?
Key context: USDT supply barely moved, edging from ~$184.2 billion to ~$184.5 billion. In plain terms = Tether didn't sell gold because its stablecoin was shrinking — it chose to sell while supply held steady.
Over the same period, Tether's Bitcoin and other investment-class assets increased. Jefferies noted the disclosures do not explicitly link the two, but the timing overlap drew market attention to possible internal reallocation.
Jefferies analysts cautioned that one quarter of modest trimming is not enough to conclude a shift in Tether's long-term appetite for gold — confirmation requires later disclosures.
How big is 165 tonnes in context?
Tether's gold went from roughly 90 tonnes in June 2025 to 165 tonnes today — nearly 83% growth in under eighteen months.
Year-to-date net purchases of about 27 tonnes rank above the Czech Republic but below Poland (122 t), China (103 t), Uzbekistan (55 t), and Kazakhstan (41 t). This means → a single crypto company now buys gold at a pace comparable to mid-tier central banks.
And 165 tonnes is a floor, not a ceiling. CEO Paolo Ardoino has said Tether plans to allocate 10–15% of its portfolio to physical gold — a pot that is separate from USDT and XAU₮ reserves.
What about the tokenized-gold business?
XAU₮ supply held flat at 707,747 tokens through Q3 — expansion paused.
Yet the combined market cap of XAU₮ and Pax Gold (PAXG) rose to roughly $5.2 billion, up ~21% quarter-on-quarter and ~100% year-on-year — driven by price, not issuance.
In September Tether announced a partnership with Shiga to roll out XAU₮-compatible financial products in Africa and the Gulf states, but Q3 data show no visible uplift in physical gold demand from that deal yet.
What should we watch next?
Jefferies sees stablecoin reserve allocation and tokenized gold as an emerging source of institutional physical-gold demand.
Given Tether's scale, shifts in its buying or selling could materially move the gold market.
Whether Q3's trim was a one-off fluctuation or the start of a reallocation — this reflects the question the market most wants answered, and confirmation hinges on coming quarterly disclosures.
市场有风险，内容仅供研究参考，不构成投资建议。