Gold features prominently as Tether reports $1.04B Q1 2026 net profit

Tether reported about $1.04 billion in net profit for Q1 2026, with its gold reserves becoming one of the biggest parts of its balance sheet story.

The company published its first-quarter attestation, covering the assets backing USD₮ as of March 31, 2026, and showed that the company’s excess reserves reached a record $8.23 billion. Tether said the reserve base stayed mostly in short-term, liquid, high-quality instruments, while markets stayed rough across the quarter.

USD₮ stayed large and steady through the same period. The company reported about $183 billion in token-linked liabilities at the end of March, and listed total assets at $191,767,741,495 and total liabilities at $183,535,531,717.

Out of those liabilities, $183,438,487,810 came from issued digital tokens. That left assets above liabilities by $8,232,209,778. No stock ticker applies to Tether, BDO, or the World Gold Council, while Bitcoin trades as BTC.

Tether holds $141 billion in Treasury exposure while gold and Bitcoin sit inside reserves

Tether kept most of its reserves in short-term instruments tied to the U.S. government. Direct and indirect exposure to U.S. Treasury bills reached about $141 billion by March 31, 2026. The company said most reserve assets sat in government-backed holdings and short-term liquidity facilities.

That reserve layout placed Tether as the 17th largest holder of U.S. Treasuries worldwide. The company kept its main reserve focus on short-dated sovereign debt, which matters because USD₮ is used at scale and must meet redemptions without drama. In crypto, drama already comes free.

The reserve book also included other assets. Physical gold holdings stood at about $20 billion. The company said the precious metal portion was fully made up of actual gold, not paper claims. Bitcoin holdings were about $7 billion, giving Tether exposure to the largest crypto asset by market value.

Tether also separated its proprietary investments from the reserves backing issued tokens. Those investments sit under Tether Investments and are funded with excess capital and profits. The company said those holdings are not counted as part of the reserve backing for USD₮, and they allegedly do not affect the liquidity, quality, or transparency of the token reserve base.

Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said, “Our responsibility is to make sure USD₮ works without compromise. That means building a system that behaves the same way in any market condition, not just when things are stable.”

By April, Paolo said USD₮ was trading at or near record circulation levels, and more than 5 billion USD₮ had been added into the second quarter. He also tied that demand to the launch of Tether Wallet, a self-custody app built for people who use USD₮ every day.

Gold drops as the U.S. and Iran standoff keeps central banks cautious

The gold market was under pressure while Tether reported its large bullion position, as prices fell as much as 1.2% after gaining 1.5% in the prior session. Traders were watching the standoff between the U.S. and Iran, which hurt hopes for central bank rate cuts.

Trump said the naval blockade on Iran would stay in place. He was also briefed by military commanders on further options. Iran said the blockade had to end before the Strait of Hormuz could reopen.

This whole war has been bad for gold because bullion does not pay interest. Gold has fallen about 13% since the conflict started at the end of February.

Gold still gained on Thursday when the yen posted its biggest jump in three years, and Japan’s government announced an intervention in the currency market. A weaker U.S. dollar usually helps gold because the metal is priced in dollars.

The World Gold Council said central banks added gold in the first quarter at the fastest pace in more than a year. Most analysts stayed bullish on bullion, even after the latest drop.

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