Ardoino called the site “the most secure vault in the world” and said the company owns almost the entire 80-ton stockpile outright, placing the El Salvador-based issuer among the largest private gold holders globally.
According to a March attestation, gold now represents nearly 5% of Tether’s $112 billion reserve portfolio. The stash’s dollar value matches the precious metals book at UBS Group AG, one of the few bullion-dealing banks that break out those holdings.
Ardoino argued that Tether can scale a gold program without proportionally higher fees by self-custodying bullion instead of using commercial vault operators, which charge about 50 basis points.
Lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic are moving in the opposite direction. Draft US bills such as the GENIUS Act and Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework allow only cash or near-cash instruments to collateralize fiat-referenced stablecoins, excluding commodities like gold.
If those rules take effect and Tether seeks licenses in those jurisdictions, it would have to liquidate the bullion that backs USDT, although the company could retain metal tied to its gold-backed token, XAUT.
XAUT circulates against 7.7 tons of gold, worth approximately $819 million, which is well below the 950-ton giant among exchange-traded gold funds but large enough to make redemptions viable at vault doors in Switzerland.
Ardoino said demand could accelerate if investors lose confidence in US fiscal sustainability and seek alternatives that avoid bank-deposit risk while remaining on-chain.
Spot gold has advanced by roughly 25% in 2025 as traders hedge tariff-driven trade friction and wider geopolitical tension.
Ardoino said:
“Every single central bank in the BRICS countries is buying gold, so that is why the price went up in our opinion.”
Tether must still convince regulators that a metal-heavy reserve would not impede USDT’s liquidity under stress.
For now, the firm holds the metal, earns yield on Treasurys, and keeps a separate token directly convertible into vaulted bars, combining traditional bullion economics with blockchain settlement.
