Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, reported in its Q2 attestation on Monday that it held $3.3 billion of reserve assets in excess to back the value of its stablecoins. The attestation, signed by accounting firm BDO Italy, disclosed that the company had exposure to U.S. Treasuries totaling $72.5 billion, including direct T-bill investments, repurchase agreements, and deposits in money market funds. The filing also revealed that Tether’s bitcoin (BTC) holdings as of June 30 had increased in dollar value to $1.67 billion from $1.5 billion three months earlier, though the number of tokens held was not disclosed.
Tether reported that its operational profits exceeded $1 billion for the second quarter. In May, the firm reported $1.45 billion in net profits in Q1. USDT is the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, and is a key piece of the crypto ecosystem facilitating trading and asset transfers. Tether’s reported profits are close to those of asset management giant BlackRock, which booked operating income of just over $1.6 billion in Q2.
Despite its success, Tether continues to receive scrutiny for its opaque reserve management and lack of independent audits.