Tether, the overseer of the USDT stablecoin, has announced record-breaking profits for the first half of 2024, reaching an astonishing $5.2 billion. The company has also accumulated an unprecedented amount of U.S government bonds.
With a powerful US Treasury portfolio valued roughly at $97.6 billion, Tether has outperformed all but 17 of the world’s governments, overtaking big names such as Germany, the UAE and Australia. Tether confirmed that the increase in their Treasury holdings is reflective of the ongoing expansion of Tether stablecoins, which the firm claims are backed one-to-one with liquid assets in US dollars. Notably, an independent accounting firm, BDO, has confirmed these figures.
In addition to its incredible profits, Tether now boasts a total market capitalization of $114 billion for USDT, according to cryptocurrency exchange giant, Binance. Slightly exceeding this total, Tether’s reserves are stated to be over $118 billion. The company’s Treasury reserve now ranks third for purchases of short-term, 3-month U.S Treasury bonds, placing it just behind the United Kingdom and the Cayman Islands.
Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, stresses that their firm’s substantial balance sheet enables it to maintain an industry-leading position in terms of stability and liquidity. The company is also expanding its influence into various sectors, such as artificial intelligence, biotech, and telecommunications, by reinvesting part of its profits.
The influence of stablecoins like Tether in the financial world is swiftly expanding, driven by a demand for safer and faster cross-border transactions. Industry research suggests that this increased utilization of stablecoins could challenge major operators such as Visa, potentially surpassing their total payment volume to exceed $4 trillion. As cryptocurrencies and tokenized real-world assets continue to gain traction, experts are predicting that the tokenized US Treasury market could hit $3 billion by the close of 2024.