Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, is exploring investments across the gold supply chain — from refining and trading to royalty arrangements — after holding discussions with mining groups, the Financial Times reported.
The move builds on the firm’s existing precious‑metals activity: Tether lists $8.7 billion of physical gold bars stored in a Zurich vault on its financial statements and in June paid $89.2 million for a minority stake in Elemental Altus (ELE).
CEO Paolo Ardoino called gold “bitcoin in nature” during a speech at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, reflecting a longer-running affinity between crypto investors and the precious metal. Tether also issues Tether Gold (XAUT), a token that tracks the value of one troy ounce of physical gold.
Why it matters: institutional moves into bullion could deepen links between traditional commodity markets and crypto capital. For Tether, further upstream stakes in mining and refining would diversify asset exposure beyond cash and short‑term instruments and could create new revenue streams tied to metal trading and royalties.
Risks: such moves carry operational, liquidity and regulatory risks — physical custody, counterparty exposures and heightened scrutiny of reserve backing are immediate concerns for market participants and regulators.
One commodity executive told the Financial Times Tether was “the weirdest company I have ever dealt with.” Tether did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Source: CoinDesk. Read the original coverage for full details.