Gold has surged 18% year-to-date and has climbed 64% over 2025, breaking through key psychological levels at $3,000 per ounce in March, $4,000 in October and $5,000 on Monday. The rally has been driven by strong investment demand, central-bank buying, and robust retail interest amid rising global geopolitical tensions.
As spot prices have climbed, Tether has emerged as a significant source of gold demand. The company’s rapid purchase pace reflects reserves backing its flagship Tether USDT stablecoin—currently with $187 billion in tokens circulating—and the Tether XAUT gold token, valued at $2.7 billion.
Tether’s dollar tokens are intended to be backed 1:1 by assets held in reserve. When a user deposits a dollar, Tether issues a USDT token and holds equivalent-value assets such as U.S. Treasury bills. Those reserves are meant to ensure that USDT can be redeemed for dollars if needed. Tether’s XAUT token is fully backed by gold.
“We are operating at a scale that now places the Tether Gold Investment Fund alongside sovereign gold holders, and that carries real responsibility,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in the company statement.
To put Tether’s gold buying in context, Poland’s central bank—one of the most active official buyers—added 35 tons of gold in Q4, bringing its total reserves to 550 tons.
Tether did not disclose the total amount of gold held in Switzerland for both products combined. However, it said that for the Tether gold token (XAUT)—which accounts for 60% of the global gold-backed stablecoin supply—it held 16.2 tons of gold at the end of December.
A third-quarter audit of reserves for Tether’s USDT, the latest publicly available, showed gold holdings worth $12.9 billion as of the end of September, which equated to about 104 tons at the market price then. However, the USDT reserves were dominated by U.S. Treasuries, with gold representing only 7% of the total as of end-September.