Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization, kept its funds in four banks, two investment management firms, two gold depositories, and a gold broker, as well as its own sister company Bitfinex, in March 2021, according to documents obtained by CoinDesk. “The documents offer a rare but limited window into Tether’s finances, long a subject of controversy and conjecture in the crypto industry,” said CoinDesk Executive Editor Marc Hochstein. On March 31, 2021, Tether claimed it had more than $35.5 billion in U.S. dollar equivalents at these institutions, with a further $5.1 billion detailed under “USDT lending” and other assets, for an asset total of $40.6 billion.
The documents show that Tether had a significant amount of its reserves in commercial paper, with the Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., Bank of China Hong Kong, Bank of Communications Co. Ltd., Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank, China Everbright Bank Co., and more all issuing commercial paper that Tether used to back its token. Tether also kept funds in Ansbacher (Bahamas) Limited, Capital Union Bank in the Bahamas, and Far Eastern International Bank in Taiwan. However, the vast majority of its assets were in Bahamas-based Deltec Bank and Trust—more than $26 billion as of March that year.