Tether Owns About 150,000 Bitcoin, Ardoino Says
Paolo Ardoino puts Tether’s Bitcoin holdings at roughly 150,000 BTC in an October keynote, without disclosing a new purchase or a detailed reserve breakdown.
Key Notes
- Paolo Ardoino estimated Tether’s Bitcoin holdings at approximately 150,000 BTC in an October keynote.
- At an illustrative price of $77,000 per Bitcoin, the stake would be worth about $11.55 billion.
- The speech did not disclose a new purchase or reconcile the estimate with USDT reserves.
Tether owns approximately 150,000 Bitcoin, chief executive Paolo Ardoino said in a keynote shared on October 27, highlighting the stablecoin company’s substantial exposure to the cryptocurrency.
“We have give or take 150,000 bitcoin ourselves,” Ardoino said during the keynote. The remark comes about 22 minutes into the presentation, as he discusses Tether’s involvement in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
At an illustrative Bitcoin price of $77,000, that holding would be worth approximately $11.55 billion. That is a price-based calculation, rather than a disclosed purchase cost or a fixed valuation supplied with the estimate.
A Holdings Estimate, With No New Purchase Disclosed
Ardoino described the amount as approximate. He did not announce a new acquisition, provide transaction dates or identify the wallets making up the total in that part of the speech.
The statement also does not explain how the 150,000 BTC is divided between assets backing USDT and other holdings within Tether’s businesses. It therefore cannot be treated as a standalone reconciliation of the stablecoin issuer’s reserves.
That distinction matters when comparing the figure with reserve disclosures: a company-wide holdings estimate and a report covering a particular issuer need not have the same scope. The keynote alone does not establish how much Bitcoin Tether has added over any given reporting period.
Bitcoin Buying Sits Alongside Infrastructure Investment
Tether established a formal Bitcoin investment policy in May 2023, announcing plans to allocate up to 15% of net realized operating profits to BTC purchases. It said the policy would use realized gains rather than unrealized price increases, and that it would retain control of the Bitcoin’s private keys.
That percentage applies to profits, rather than 15% of every USDT deposit. The policy announcement does not establish the timing or size of subsequent purchases.
In the keynote, Ardoino placed Bitcoin ownership alongside mining investment and open-source mining software as ways Tether supports the network. He described those activities as part of a broader effort to build financial and technological infrastructure.
Its work also extends to dollar-token payments on Bitcoin. CoinScreamer’s Utexo rollout coverage examines plans to bring USDT to Bitcoin through RGB. That payment initiative is separate from Tether’s ownership of BTC.
Tether: a psychohistory interpretation.
My latest keynote. @tether pic.twitter.com/2dQUVAMZE5— Paolo Ardoino 🤖 (@paoloardoino) October 27, 2026
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