Tether Deploys $23B Gold Reserve Through Bullion-Backed Loans
Stablecoin giant Tether is activating its $23 billion gold stockpile by offering bullion-backed loans, a strategic shift in how it manages reserves.
Tether, the company behind the world's largest stablecoin by market capitalization, is moving to put its massive $23 billion gold stockpile to work by extending bullion-backed loans, according to a report from CoinDesk. The move marks a significant strategic evolution for a firm that has long held gold as a passive reserve asset alongside its flagship USDT token.
By collateralizing gold holdings to generate lending activity, Tether is effectively transforming a traditionally inert store of value into a yield-producing instrument. The strategy mirrors approaches used by traditional commodity banks and sovereign wealth funds, suggesting Tether is maturing its treasury operations well beyond the simple stablecoin issuance model that originally defined the company.
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The timing is notable. Gold prices have surged to historic highs in 2024 and into 2025, driven by geopolitical uncertainty and central bank accumulation globally. A $23 billion position in bullion represents substantial collateral power, and activating it through lending could generate meaningful revenue streams for Tether while keeping the underlying asset on its books.
For the broader crypto industry, the development underscores how major digital asset firms are increasingly bridging traditional finance mechanisms with blockchain-native operations. Tether's reserve management decisions carry outsized weight given that USDT underpins enormous volumes of daily crypto trading worldwide, making the company's financial stability a systemic concern for the sector as a whole.
Continue reading at CoinDesk.
