Tether Q1 2026 Slows Gold Purchases, Gold Reserves Supporting USDT Increase to 132 Tons
According to Reuters, Tether's gold purchases to support USDT slowed in Q1 2026, with quarterly gold purchases dropping to about 6 tons, down from 27 tons in Q4 last year.
As of the end of March, Tether's gold reserves supporting USDT rose to approximately 132 tons (about $19.8 billion), accounting for about 10% of its reserve structure. The main assets remain approximately $117 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds and about $7 billion in Bitcoin reserves.
Market Mechanism: The slowdown in Tether's gold allocation reflects an adjustment in its reserve strategy, with funds continuing to tilt towards U.S. Treasury bonds, maintaining high liquidity for stablecoins, while short-term demand for gold-related assets is under pressure.
Source: Public Information
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Tether previously planned to allocate 10%-15% of its approximately $20 billion investment portfolio to physical gold, but the related trading team was disbanded in March this year, leading to a slowdown in gold purchases. Meanwhile, the reserves for the XAUT gold stablecoin increased to 22 tons.
In terms of capital strategy, Tether maintains a conservative reserve structure for USDT primarily based on U.S. Treasury bonds, with gold as a diversified supplement but not aggressively increased. Bitcoin reserves remain stable, with an overall strategy prioritizing liquidity and compliance.
Similar to Circle's USDC reserve model centered on Treasury bonds, Tether is currently in a phase of adjustment from diversification attempts to a focus on core assets among stablecoin issuers.
Structural Judgment: Essentially a capital concentration, Tether optimizes its reserve structure by controlling the pace of gold purchases, prioritizing the dollar peg and liquidity of USDT, while maintaining limited allocations to gold and Bitcoin as risk diversification tools, thus sustaining its market dominance as the largest stablecoin.