Tether's cushion over its stablecoin nearly doubles to $7.95bn, outpacing its profit
The buffer that would absorb losses before USDT holders lose anything rose by $3.8bn in a quarter in which Tether says it earned $1.5bn. Its announcement does not explain the difference.
Tether, which issues USDT, the largest dollar stablecoin, said on 30 October that its assets exceeded its liabilities by $7.95bn at the end of September. That is almost double the $4.11bn cushion it reported three months earlier. The figures come from a quarterly attestation, a check by BDO, an accounting firm, of Tether's balance sheet on a single day. It is not a full audit of the quarter.
Tether put its assets at $191.45bn and its liabilities at $183.50bn, almost all of it the USDT in circulation. Issuance has held near $184bn all year, it says. It holds $132.4bn of American Treasury bills, directly and indirectly. Those bills, along with reverse repurchase agreements, a form of short-term lending against collateral, earned most of its income. It reported a net operating profit of $1.5bn for the quarter, the same as in the second, and $4.5bn for the year so far.
The cushion is Tether's own capital. It would absorb a fall in the value of the reserves before holders of USDT lost anything. It halved in the second quarter, from $8.23bn at the end of March, a fall CoinDesk put down to lower prices for gold and bitcoin, both held in the reserves. The new figure wins back most of that ground.
The rise of $3.8bn is more than twice the quarter's operating profit, and Tether's announcement does not say where the rest came from. Crypto Briefing, a trade site, lists about $19.08bn of precious metals, $8.37bn of bitcoin and $4.18bn of listed shares among the reserves, alongside $14.18bn of secured loans. A rise in the value of such holdings could lift the cushion without counting as operating profit. Tether has not said how much of the change it explains. Only crypto and trade sites covered the report.
"Our responsibility is to make sure USD₮ remains dependable when people need it most, including when markets and financial systems come under pressure," said Paolo Ardoino, Tether's chief executive. The snapshot was taken a month before the theft of about $6.3bn from Binance on 29 October, in which Tether froze stolen USDT.
Institutions in this story
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Tether
Issuer
Reported assets of $191.45bn against liabilities of $183.50bn at 30 September 2026 in its BDO attestation, an excess of $7.95bn, up from $4.11bn at 30 June, with net operating profit of $1.5bn for the quarter.
On the record
Tether's third-quarter attestation shows a $7.95bn excess over its liabilities, up from $4.11bn
Tether's BDO attestation as of 30 September 2026 shows assets of $191.45bn against liabilities of $183.50bn, an excess of $7.95bn, up from $4.11bn at 30 June. Tether reports $1.5bn of quarterly net operating profit and $132.4bn of direct and indirect Treasury bill holdings.