Leading stablecoin issuer Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, has quietly added around 8,888.888 BTC to its stash for a total of around $618 million, bringing the company’s total Bitcoin holdings to around 75,354 BTC.
The company’s suspected Bitcoin holdings make it the owner seventh-largest Bitcoin wallet in the world, with nearly $5 billion worth of the flagship cryptocurrency in it. It’s worth noting that the largest known wallets, with 248,597 BTC and 180,010 BTC, respectively, have been tagged as belonging to Binance and Bitfinex by BitInfoCharts.
These wallets are used for the cold storage of funds deposited on these trading platforms. They don’t hold BTC belonging to the exchanges but rather BTC belonging to their users.
Tether’s massive Bitcoin stash is believed to be in a state of profit with potential unrealized gains of around $3 billion, but the figure nevertheless pales in comparison to the BTC holdings of Nasdaq-listed business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, which holds 214,246 BTC acquired for over $7.5 billion. MicroStrategy’s holdings are currently worth around $14.08 billion.
Tether’s Bitcoin accumulation was spotted by on-chain analytics firms like Arkham Intelligence, with the funds moving to an address associated with the leading stablecoin issuer late last month.
Tether, it’s worth noting, revealed last year plans to use 15% of its realized net operating profits to invest in the flagship cryptocurrency. The firm earns income from its large portfolio of U.S. Treasury bills, gold, and other investments.
Unlike traditional banks, which operate on a fractional reserve basis, Tether maintains its cryptocurrencies backed by mostly cash and short-term U.S. Treasury bills. At the time of writing, 1-month U.S. Treasurys are yielding around 5.38%.
As CryptoGlobe reported, Tether has recently announced the successful completion of the System Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 1 audit. According to Tether, this step is integral to reinforcing its commitment to providing a secure and transparent environment for its users, highlighting its role as a frontrunner in the industry.
The SOC 2 Type 1 audit, recognized as a benchmark for security compliance, was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
The firm’s accomplishment in this area is significant, given the audit’s rigorous assessment based on five foundational ‘trust service principles’: Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy.
Tether claims this certification is indicative of its robust IT controls and its dedication to upholding the highest standards of data protection and information security.
Featured image via Unsplash.
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