Tether reports $1.5bn profit as excess reserves hit $7.95bn
The stablecoin issuer now holds $132.4bn in US Treasury bills, a total that exceeds the government debt holdings of the United Arab Emirates.
Key takeaways
- 1Q3 operating profit reached $1.5bn with a nine-month total of $4.5bn.
- 2Excess reserves grew to $7.95bn from $4.1bn at the end of June.
- 3Total assets include $132.4bn in US Treasury bills, exceeding UAE holdings.
- 4Bitcoin reserves were valued at $8.37bn at the end of September.
Tether reported a $1.5bn operating profit for the third quarter of 2026 as its excess reserves nearly doubled to $7.95bn. The stablecoin issuer released the figures on 30 October alongside an attestation from the accounting firm BDO. Total net operating profit for the first nine months of the year reached $4.5bn.
The company held $191.5bn in total assets against $183.5bn in liabilities at the end of September. This left a reserve surplus of $7.95bn, a sharp increase from the $4.1bn reported at the end of June. Most of the earnings came from interest on US Treasury bills and reverse repurchase agreements.
Tether’s holdings of US Treasury bills reached $132.4bn when including both direct and indirect exposure. According to Cointelegraph, which cited US Treasury Department data, this total exceeds the $116.1bn in government debt held by the United Arab Emirates. It is also comparable to the $134.2bn held by South Korea.
The value of the company’s bitcoin reserves rose to $8.37bn by the end of September, up from $5.8bn in the previous quarter. This increase followed a period of price growth for the digital asset. Tether uses its profits to increase its buffer of assets held above the value of the tokens it issues.
Tether’s USDT remains the largest stablecoin in the world, representing about 60 per cent of the $297.3bn market. Chief executive Paolo Ardoino said on X that the token now has more than 700 million users. He said adoption is particularly high in emerging markets where users use the token as a dollar substitute.
While BDO provided the latest attestation, The Defiant reported that the document covers the specific balance at the end of September rather than activity throughout the entire quarter. Tether previously said it completed a full audit with KPMG US in August. Those audited financial statements have not yet been made public.
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