Tether Increases Bitcoin Holdings with 8,888 BTC Purchase, Reserves Top 96,000 BTC
Tether has added 8,888.88 bitcoin to its treasury wallet as part of a quarterly profit allocation, bringing the stablecoin issuer’s bitcoin holdings above 96,000 BTC, the company said. The acquisition, disclosed by Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino, was recorded at the start of 2026 and valued at roughly $780 million at current prices.
The purchase follows a corporate policy introduced in 2023 under which Tether allocates up to 15% of its realized quarterly operating profits to bitcoin acquisitions. The policy effectively makes the company a systematic accumulator of bitcoin, rather than an opportunistic buyer that seeks to raise capital specifically for crypto purchases.
Tether is the world’s largest issuer of stablecoins and has, through this program, become one of bitcoin’s larger corporate holders. The company said the latest transfer was drawn from Q4 2025 profit allocations and was added to its treasury wallet in early 2026.
Value for the latest addition was reported at roughly $780 million, based on prevailing market prices at the time the transfer was recorded. Bitcoin was trading at about $89,000 by mid-day Hong Kong time when the purchase was reported, a period observers described as one in which rallies had been difficult to sustain and market liquidity had thinned toward the year end.
Tether’s approach ties its bitcoin accumulation to its operating profitability, which is itself linked to the performance of the cash-like assets that back USDT. The company’s reserves are primarily held in short-term U.S. Treasuries and repurchase agreements, and higher interest rates combined with sustained demand for stablecoins can increase realized returns on those instruments. Increased operating profit then creates room for the firm to deploy a portion of those earnings into bitcoin purchases.
According to the firm’s stated strategy, these bitcoin purchases are carried out without drawing down the assets that back the stablecoin’s liabilities. In practice, the policy allows Tether to diversify part of its accumulated earnings by moving a defined percentage into bitcoin while keeping the bulk of its backing in highly liquid instruments.
That structure differentiates Tether’s accumulation strategy from typical corporate bitcoin purchases, which often involve issuing debt or raising new capital to fund acquisitions. Instead, Tether uses an internal treasury allocation mechanism: a portion of realized profits is directed into bitcoin, making purchases a regular, procedural part of its financial operations rather than one-off strategic transactions.
Market participants pay attention to such accumulations because of Tether’s scale. As the issuer of a widely used stablecoin, the company’s balance sheet can be sizeable and its systematic purchases have the potential, over time, to represent significant demand in spot markets. Observers have noted that regular, programmatic buying differs from episodic corporate purchases in its predictability and potential cumulative impact.
The timing of the latest purchase coincided with a period of subdued momentum in bitcoin markets. Liquidity across trading venues was reported to have thinned as the year closed, and risk appetite among traders was uneven. Those market conditions can affect execution and market impact, but Tether’s policy does not hinge on opportunistic timing, focusing instead on a consistent allocation tied to profits.
Tether’s public disclosures emphasize maintaining highly liquid reserves to support USDT’s liabilities while allowing limited diversification of realized profits. The company’s stated allocation cap—up to 15% of quarterly realized operating profits—serves as a framework to balance reserve liquidity with diversification objectives.
With this latest addition, Tether’s bitcoin treasury is reported to be above 96,000 BTC. The firm has added to its holdings through periodic allocations since implementing the policy, and the cumulative effect has positioned it among large corporate holders of the cryptocurrency.
The update underscores how stablecoin issuers’ balance-sheet decisions can intersect with wider crypto market dynamics. For observers tracking supply-demand interactions in bitcoin markets, regularized buying by a large stablecoin issuer represents a notable and persistent source of demand tied to the company’s operational results and broader market conditions.
Key Topics
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