The controversy over Tether’s monetary energy intensified after BitMEX alternate co-founder Arthur Hayes and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino provided their interpretations of the corporate’s danger technique, which points USDT, the market’s largest stablecoin.
Hayes described what he referred to as a “huge operation” based mostly on rates of interest. In keeping with Hayes, The corporate would count on a fee lower by the Federal Reserve. This is able to considerably cut back earnings from authorities bonds, by which the majority of the reserves are invested.
For that reason, Hayes stated Tether is diversifying into property comparable to gold and Bitcoin (BTC) as a hedging technique. That is as a result of these property are likely to rise in worth when the price of cash falls. The issue for Hayes could be a big drop within the value of Bitcoin or gold, which might have an effect on the USDT collateral.
The BitMEX co-founder based mostly his argument on Tether’s newest audit, stating that the corporate’s buyers are within the early levels of a large-scale commerce centered on capital yield.
That is the precise composition of the reserves backing every USDT in circulation on the finish of Q3 2025, in keeping with an impartial certification ready by BDO Italia and issued by Tether on October 31, 2025.
Ardoino dismissed this evaluation as a worry marketing campaign (FUD) and stated his stablecoin reserves of $181.5 billion present a powerful cushion.
The audit revealed that it held $9.856 billion in BTC and $12.92 billion in valuable metals. The BitMEX co-founder warned: Capital may disappear from Tether if the mixed worth of gold and BTC falls by round 30%As reported by CriptoNoticias, USDT is theoretically bancrupt, renewing doubts about its solvency, much like these expressed by score company S&P International final week.
This identical situation, a sustained decline in Bitcoin costs, is the one case by which one other giant institutional BTC holder, Technique Inc., has acknowledged that it might be compelled to liquidate a few of its holdings. CEO Von Leh stated the corporate would solely promote Bitcoin “if the MNAV (web adjusted worth per share) drops under 1 and we now not have any financing choices.” In different phrases, Technique, the world’s largest Bitcoin holder, is just trying to promote its BTC within the occasion of utmost monetary stress.
Coincidences will not be trivial. Each Tether and Technique have made Bitcoin a key a part of their steadiness sheets in a excessive rate of interest setting. Each consider that BTC costs will stabilize or rise as soon as financial coverage is eased. But when this concept fails and Bitcoin enters an prolonged bear market (precisely the situation Hayes is proposing for Tether), promoting stress may come not solely from retail merchants but additionally from the ecosystem’s two largest institutional holders.
Ardoino detailed that as of the top of Q3 2025, Tether had 7 billion in surplus capital on high of 181 billion in reserves, with a further 23 billion in retained earnings added as a part of its capital.
businessman Each Hays and S&P International criticized the group for making the error of not taking this extra capital into consideration. Nor does it have $500 million in month-to-month base income generated solely from U.S. Treasury yields. This implies that sure analyzes have an incentive to stifle competitors.
