The secret banker behind the gold boom: a multi-billion-dollar money-circle has held up 140 tons
By Nancy, PANews
Gold kills crazy. Less than a month into the year, the roads were sorely financed that the price of gold was rising。
In this festivities of precious metals, a &ldquao; the invisible banker &rdquao; and an accidental break-in into the horizon, stabilizing the currency giant Tether has hidden 140 tons of gold reserves。
We hold 140 tons of gold. We're the largest gold central bank in the world
“ with a mine ” Tether, is becoming a big dealer in the gold market。
& ldquo; we will soon be one of the world ' s largest ‘ Gold Central Bank ’ & Rdquo; Senior Executive Officer Tether Paolo Ardoino did not hide his ambitions during his recent interview with Bloomberg。
This is not rhetoric. To date, Tether has accumulated approximately 140 tons of in-kind gold, valued at some $23 billion in current prices. Often, Tether purchases directly from Swiss refineries and global head financial institutions, and orders for large quantities of metals often take months to deliver. The gold upon arrival is stored in a nuclear bunker built in Switzerland during the cold war, with multiple layers of heavy steel doors protected, and Switzerland has the world ' s largest confidentiality system。
On a scale, Tether has become outside the banking system and the country, with the world ' s largest known holders of in-kind gold, ranking among the top 30 gold holders globally, holding more warehouses than Greece, Qatar and Australia。
Despite Tether ' s deployment of gold assets many years ago, a truly large-scale entrance took place in 2025. Last year alone, Tether bought over 70 tons of gold, becoming the top three buyers of global gold this year. The scale of procurement exceeds not only almost all single central banks except the Central Bank of Poland, but also many large gold ETFs。
The price of gold has risen this year, and Tether is an important pusher。
According to Ardoino, the current rate of gold purchases in Tether is about 1 to 2 tons per week, and plans to maintain it in the coming months, “ it may slow down, but we will assess gold requirements on a quarterly basis &rdquo。
But Tether's ambition is not just a hoard. In an interview with Bloomberg, Ardoino stated that Tether was assessing markets and potential trading strategies and was planning to capture arbitrage opportunities through proactive trading of gold reserves. At the same time, the company is working on the construction of “ the world ' s best gold trading hall; and the goal is to establish stable, long-term access to gold and to compete with large banks that dominate the global precious metals market, such as Morgan Chase and HSBC。
To this end, Tether introduced two senior heavy-weight traders last year, Vincent Domien, the former HSBC Global Metals Trading Manager, and Mathew O&rsquo, the Chief of Precious Metals Procurement in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Neil, dedicated to expanding its gold business landscape. (Refer to:the golden empire of taida: “ central bank without borders ” ambition and crackI'm not sure
Tether has also begun to occupy the upper part of the industrial chain with monetary capacity. Tether has entered several Canadian medium-sized gold mining concessions, including Elemental Royalty, Metalla Royalty & Streaming, Versamet Royalties and Gold Royalty, among others, to lock in future production capacity and division through equity investments。
At the financial product level, Tether introduced the gold peg stabilization coin Tether Gold (XAU₮) as early as 2020. By the end of last year, the token was supported by 16.2 tons of gold in kind. Not long ago, Tether also launched the new XAU₮ unit, Scúdo, each of which represents one in 1,000 gold ounces of gold, with the aim of making gold a more user-friendly payment。
According to CoinGecko, as at 28 January, the market value of XAU₮ had reached $2.7 billion, an increase of about 91.3 per cent over the past year, accounting for 49.5 per cent of the market share of the monetized gold track, the highest。
From physical hoarding, to industrial chain layout, to financial innovation, the gold lover has made a big investment, and has even made traditional large-scale traders speak out. Idquo; unable to read ” Tether was described as “ the strangest company &rdquo met。
But now, as gold prices continue to refresh historical highs, Tether's bets are yielding amazing returns。
15 billion dollars a year to build a capital depot
Tether's madly hoarding the base of gold from a high-speed & ldquo; currency printer & rdquo。
According to Fortune, Tether generated about $15 billion in net profits in 2025, a significant increase from $13 billion the previous year. And there are only about 200 people around the world who support this billion-dollar profit. In a rough calculation, per capita profits were as high as $75 million, and such high per capita efficiency made traditional financial giants invisible。
The core of this profitability comes from the pool where its stable currency operations are deposited。
Today, Tether's United States dollar-stabilized currency, the most widely used global currency, has exceeded 500 million users. According to CoinGecko, as at 28 January 2026, the US dollar stabilization currency issued by Tether was close to US$ 18.7 billion in circulation, leading the stabilization course. Trade activity is also leading, with Artemis Analytics showing that total stable currency transactions grew by 72 to $33 trillion in 2025, with USDT contributing $13.3 trillion, or over 33 per cent。
On this basis, Tether is further scaling up the siltation through compliance。
On 27 January, Tether officially launched the United States Federally Regulated Stable USAT, which was issued by the United States ' first federally supervised Stable Stable Bank, and Cantor Fitzgerald, who served as designated reserve trustee and first-class dealer, and Bo Hines, a former White House consultant, became CEO. This was seen as a critical step in Tether’s full-scale march into the United States mainland market。
At the same time, Tether, through investment in content platforms such as Rumble, tried to integrate USAT operations into the flow ecology, reaching 100 million United States users quickly and set a target of $1 trillion in five years. If it goes well, US AT could become the first true competition for USDC in the US market。
After receiving a liability at almost zero cost, Tether easily hedges interest spreads through the allocation of highly liquid and low-risk assets。
Of these, interest on United States debt is the core source of income for Tether. During the high interest rate cycle, interest on United States debt directly magnifies Tether ' s profitability. At present, Tether's US Treasury debt is about $13.5 billion, more than sovereign countries like South Korea, making it the 17th largest US Treasury debt holder in the world。
At the same time, Tether is a bitcoin superplayer. From 2023 onwards, Tether spent up to 15 per cent of its monthly net profits on fixed investments in bitcoin. There are now more than 96,000 warehouses, one of the world ' s largest Bitcoin institutional holders, at an average cost of about $51,000, far below current market prices. Tether also built his own mines, invested in mining companies, and set-up DAT (encrypted treasury) around the Bitcoin ecology, expanding industrial influence and, for one time, spreading & ldquo abroad; BTC invisible & rdquo; conspiracy theories. (Refer to:Trapped in the BTC Invisible Conspiracy? Discovering Tether's Bitcoin Strategy PanoramaI'm not sure
In addition, in order to leverage additional potential gains, Tether has in the past few years initiated a large saloon model, extending investment to areas such as satellite communications, AI data centres, agriculture, telecommunications and the media。
As a result, a arbitrage machine that spans the traditional financial and encrypted world has evolved and is constantly sending capital ammunition to Tether as its big stakes。
