Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has revealed that the company holds approximately 150,000 Bitcoin as it continues expanding its investments in digital assets and financial technology.
Summary
- Paolo Ardoino said Tether owns around 150,000 Bitcoin, although he did not provide a detailed breakdown of the holdings.
- He claimed Tether serves more than 730 million users worldwide and adds around 30 million new wallets every quarter.
- Tether’s third-quarter 2026 attestation showed $132.4 billion in direct and indirect exposure to US Treasury bills.
- The company’s excess reserves reached $7.95 billion at the end of September, while quarterly net operating profit stood at $1.5 billion.
- Ardoino also outlined Tether’s Independence Stack, which includes energy, Bitcoin mining, communications, self-custody wallets, and artificial intelligence.
During his keynote at the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano, Switzerland, Ardoino said Tether holds “give or take 150,000 Bitcoin” on its corporate balance sheet.
He discussed the holdings alongside the company’s financial position and its plans to develop technology beyond stablecoin payments.
Ardoino also claimed that Tether serves more than 730 million people worldwide, adding approximately 30 million new wallets every quarter. He described this growth as part of the company’s efforts to expand financial access.
Tether CEO reveals 150,000 Bitcoin holdings
During the presentation, Ardoino discussed Bitcoin as an important part of Tether’s long-term investment strategy.
The figure of nearly 150,000 BTC was his estimate of the company’s holdings. However, he did not provide a separate breakdown of the wallets or explain when the Bitcoin was acquired.
Tether has been purchasing Bitcoin as part of its investment strategy since introducing a policy in May 2023 to allocate a portion of its profits to the cryptocurrency.
Its latest financial disclosures also provide information about Bitcoin held among the assets backing USDT.
In its third-quarter report, Tether valued its Bitcoin reserves at $8.37 billion as of September 30, compared with approximately $5.8 billion at the end of June.
However, the report values reserve assets at a specific date and does not provide a complete breakdown that reconciles with Ardoino’s estimate of the company’s total Bitcoin holdings.
Tether’s other investments include precious metals, government securities, and additional financial assets.
Ardoino continues to describe Bitcoin and USDT as important parts of the company’s business while highlighting its plans to expand into energy, communications, and software development.
Tether’s Treasury holdings reach $132.4 billion
Tether provided another update on its financial position on October 30, when it published its third-quarter attestation prepared by BDO.
The report showed total reserve assets of $191.45 billion against liabilities of approximately $183.50 billion.
Excess reserves increased to $7.95 billion, up from $4.1 billion at the end of June.
Tether generated $1.5 billion in net operating profit during the third quarter, bringing its total profit for the first nine months of 2026 to $4.5 billion.
The company directly held approximately $122.84 billion in US Treasury bills. Overnight reverse repurchase agreements added another $9.52 billion.
Together, these holdings represented nearly $132.4 billion in direct and indirect Treasury bill exposure.
The report also listed $19.08 billion in gold and $14.18 billion in secured loans.
USDT issuance remained close to $184 billion during the first nine months of 2026, with income from Treasury-related investments contributing to the company’s earnings.
Tether introduces its Independence Stack initiative
Alongside its financial results, Ardoino presented a technology initiative called the Independence Stack.
The project brings together several technologies designed to operate without relying entirely on centralized service providers.
Ardoino said technology could help communities become more independent in areas such as financial services, energy, and communications. His presentation also drew inspiration from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels, which explore efforts to preserve knowledge during a fictional period of civilizational decline.
Tether has invested in solar-powered battery kiosks serving communities across Africa. According to Ardoino, around 5,000 kiosks currently serve two million users and support 30,000 women working within the network.
The company aims to expand the network to 100,000 kiosks over the next five years, potentially reaching 200 million people.
Bitcoin mining is another part of the initiative.
In October, Tether secured support from 15 Bitcoin mining companies, manufacturers, and mining pools for its open-source Mining Development Kit.
The participating companies include Bitmain, Bitdeer, Canaan, MicroBT, Foundry Digital, and F2Pool.
Tether expands wallet and AI development
Tether’s Independence Stack also includes Holepunch, a peer-to-peer communications system designed to support applications without traditional centralized servers.
Its Wallet Development Kit provides software that developers can use to build self-custodial wallets across multiple blockchain networks.
In September, Tether and Shiga announced plans to develop wallets for individuals and institutions across Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The planned products would support USDT, Bitcoin, and Tether Gold, although the companies have not announced a launch date.
Artificial intelligence is another part of the project through QVAC, Tether’s platform for running AI applications directly on personal devices.
In October, the company released an offline speech recognition model designed for smartphones, smart glasses, and robotics.
During the Lugano presentation, Ardoino also discussed other AI models for medical assistance, translation, computer vision, and speech processing.
He said Tether’s research included translation tools covering 19 African languages and medical AI models with 1.7 billion and four billion parameters.
Ardoino said the broader goal was to develop technologies that could continue operating independently of Tether’s future business activities.
He added that the company’s profitability allows it to fund these projects, including work on decentralized infrastructure and AI software that can run locally on users’ devices.