Tether nets record $4.5B profit in Q1 2024 — majority from Bitcoin and gold

The majority, or $3.52 billion, of the profit stemmed from the firm’s financial gains on Bitcoin and gold, while the additional $1 billion came from operating profits.

Tether Holdings, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, Tether (USDT), reported a record net profit of $4.52 billion in the first quarter of 2024.

Tether also revealed its net equity for the first time, which stands at $11.37 billion as of March 31. This represents a significant increase from the $7.01 billion worth of equity recorded at the end of December 2023, according to Tether’s attestation report for the first quarter of 2024.

Approximately $1 billion stemmed from operating profits derived from United States Treasury holdings, while the remainder of $3.52 billion comprised the market-to-market gains in the firm’s Bitcoin (BTC) and gold positions.

Tether’s USDT is the world’s largest stablecoin, worth over $110 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. The company issued $12.5 billion worth of USDT in the first quarter of 2024.

The report also revealed a $1 billion increase in excess reserves that are maintained as a buffer to support the company’s stablecoin offerings. Tether’s excess reserves stood just below $6.3 billion.

The report further revealed over $104 billion worth of liabilities related to “digital tokens issued,” while the value of Tether’s reserve assets exceeded the value of its liabilities by over $6.2 billion as of March 31.

Related: Circle’s USDC overtakes Tether’s USDT in stablecoin transactions — Visa

Tether remains the world’s seventh-largest Bitcoin holder

Tether’s Bitcoin wallet, “bc1q,” currently holds 75,354 BTC, worth over $4.38 billion, according to on-chain intelligence platform Arkham Intelligence.

Tether acquired 8,888 Bitcoin worth $626 million from Bitfinex on March 31.

This makes Tether’s “bc1q” address the seventh-largest Bitcoin holder, according to BitInfoCharts. The firm said it would invest 15% of its net profit into Bitcoin to diversify the stablecoin’s backing assets.

Despite Bitcoin falling below the $60,000 mark, Tether is sitting on an unrealized profit of over 91%, worth over $2 billion, according to the CoinStats portfolio tracker.

Related: Losses from crypto hacks plunge 67% in April to $60 million