Tether, issuer of the USDT stablecoin, acquired 8,888 Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2025, according to onchain data.
Onchain transaction data shows that Tether moved its newly acquired Bitcoin (BTC), worth roughly $750 million at the time of writing, from a Bitfinex address to a wallet it controls. Data provided by onchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence shows that the firm currently holds 100,521 BTC, worth about $8.46 billion.
Tether’s Bitcoin balance chart. Source: Arkham Intelligence
The news follows mid-February reports that Tether could be forced to sell part of its Bitcoin holdings to comply with proposed US regulations. JP Morgan wrote in a report that potential stablecoin regulation could consider a significant portion of the firm’s current reserve as non-compliant:
“Under the proposed bills, Tether would have to implicitly replace its non-compliant assets with compliant assets. […] This would imply sales of their non-compliant assets (such as precious metals, Bitcoin, corporate paper, secured loans.”
Still, Tether argued against the conclusion of the JP Morgan analyst. A Tether spokesperson criticized the analysts in correspondence sent to Cointelegraph, saying “they understand neither Bitcoin nor Tether” and highlighting that the US stablecoin laws have yet to be finalized.
Related: Binance ends Tether USDT trading in Europe to comply with MiCA rules
Tether becomes an investment powerhouse
Tether reported $13 billion of profit in 2024, leading to a significant capital reserve that the firm funneled into large-scale investment ventures. As a result of this explosive growth, the stablecoin issuer became the world’s seventh-largest buyer of US Treasurys, surpassing financially significant countries such as Canada, Taiwan, Mexico, Norway and Hong Kong.
At the end of March, Tether invested 10 million euros ($10.8 million) in Italian media company Be Water. In February, the firm acquired a majority stake in Juventus FC, a major Series A football club based in Turin, Italy, and also sought to acquire a majority stake in South American agribusiness Adecoagro.
The firm’s influence is already growing as a result of those investments. Rumble, a video platform in which Tether invested $775 million in late 2024, recently announced the launch of its wallet for content creator payments with support for Tether’s USDt.
Related: ‘Stablecoin multiverse’ begins: Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino
USDt keeps growing
Tether’s USDt is the world’s leading stablecoin and the third digital asset by market cap, according to CoinMarketCap data. At the time of writing, USDt’s total supply stands at just under 148 billion.
Ignoring the minor deviations from the US dollar’s value, that supply would place the current market cap at almost $148 billion. Whale Alert data shows that on March 31, Tether minted a billion dollars worth of USDt on the Tron blockchain.
USDt minting, burning and Bitcoin price. Source: Whale Alert
Bitcoin’s price has historically tended upward following upticks in USDt minting and large-scale USDt minting has usually followed significant Bitcoin price increases. David Pakman, managing partner at crypto-native investment firm CoinFund, recently said that the global stablecoin supply could surge to $1 trillion by the end of 2025, potentially becoming a key catalyst for broader cryptocurrency market growth.
Magazine: Chinese Tether laundromat, Bhutan enjoys recent Bitcoin boost: Asia Express