Tether plans to allocate 10% to 15% of its investment portfolio in physical gold, said the cryptocurrency group’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, increasing the stock of precious metals that, according to the company, already serves as a break-even point for some of its products.
El Salvador-based Tether said it has about 130 metric tons of physical gold, after adding 27 tons in the fourth quarter. Ardoino told Reuters that the company has been purchasing about two tons per week.
“For our own portfolio, it is rational that we have about 10% in bitcoin and 10% to 15% in gold,” Ardoino said, without revealing the value of Tether’s investment portfolio or how much of it is allocated to physical gold.
“It’s hard to decide which one I like more. It’s almost like having two children and having to decide which one is my favorite,” he added in a video interview.
Tether, which wants to maintain ownership of the physical gold stored in Switzerland, does not have a set target for purchasing gold and plans to make that decision on a quarterly basis.
Ardoino commented that Tether has been buying a lot of gold with profits since 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has continued to buy as .
“The world is not in a good moment. Gold is reaching historic records every day. Why? Because everyone is scared,” Ardoino pointed out. Last year, the price of gold rose 64%.
Tether said it purchased large amounts of gold last year to secure the stablecoin Tether USDT, a digital dollar with $186 billion in tokens in circulation, and the gold token Tether XAUT, with $2.7 billion in circulation.
Gold prices have risen 22% this year, reaching an all-time high of US$5,311 per troy ounce this Wednesday (28), driven by purchases triggered by falling confidence in the dollar and concerns about the independence of the Federal Reserve, the US central bank.
Tether, which according to Ardoino employs about 250 people, invests the reserves backing the USDT stablecoin in US Treasury bonds and other assets.
Ardoino commented that he expects Tether’s profit in 2026 to exceed the estimated US$10 billion for 2025 and possibly the US$13.7 billion obtained in 2024.
Tether has also invested its own profits in US Treasury bonds, bitcoin, the technology sector, gold royalty companies and other assets.
