Bitcoin Worth $1.5 Billion Is Held in Tether Reserve

One of the largest global networks for audit and professional services, BDO Italia, has disclosed that Bitcoin took up almost $1.5 billion of the Tether reserves at the end of Q1 or approximately 2% of the total.

The Q1 2023 earnings for stablecoin issuer Tether were just made public. Tether had a net profit of $1.48 billion, according to the Q1 2023 report. Furthermore, the stablecoin issuer has risen to a record level.

According to BDO Italy’s analysis of Tether’s Q1 2023 report, Tether has $1.5 billion in Bitcoin reserves. The accounting company did not include Bitcoin as a line item in the last report. According to the release, this increased transparency for stablecoin investors by disclosing its Bitcoin and precious metal holdings.

Precious metals are also included in their line item, according to the article. It shows the stablecoin issuer holds assets worth about $3.4 billion, or about 4% of the entire reserves.

According to Tether, all freshly released tokens were either invested in US Treasury bills or put into overnight repurchase and reverse repurchase facilities. In cash and cash-like assets, such as U.S. Treasury bills and bank deposits, the company had around 85% of its reserve assets.

Tether has faced criticism in the cryptocurrency community for years due to its dubious actions and lack of transparency over its reserve holdings. In a lawsuit alleging Tether plotted to drive up the price of Bitcoin using recently released stablecoins, a U.S. judge ordered the company to turn over papers about USDT’s backing last year.

The circulation of USDT has also surged by almost 20%, according to Tether. Due to the increased circulation, it now stands at an all-time high of almost $81.8 billion. The trust of Tether’s investors reflects the performance of the company in the cryptocurrency industry.

The biggest rival of Tether, Circle’s USDC, may have suffered from the success of Tether. In March, the secondary market saw the de-pegging of the stablecoin USDC. The anxiety over Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is what led to the fall. The coin immediately recovered its peg, but the market capitalization of the coin continued to fall.