Tether executive Bo Hines said the company has been aggressively buying hard assets. That has left it well-positioned to weather crypto’s recent downturn, he added. But one credit rating agency has a different view of Tether’s decision to load up on gold and Bitcoin. As crypto prices crashed last week, with Bitcoin racing to a 16-month low, one Tether executive said the company was well-positioned to weather the storm.
“Even in a torturous market like today, we’re probably the crypto company that’s sweating the least,” Bo Hines, CEO of Tether subsidiary USAT, said at the Digital Assets at Duke conference on February 5. The reason? Hard assets. “We’re quite diversified in terms of our investments,” Hines said. “Tether loves Bitcoin, we love gold, we also love land, hard assets that people care about and value, that have intrinsic value.”
USDT is the world’s largest stablecoin, with a market capitalisation of $184 billion on Wednesday, according to DefiLlama data. USAT, the stablecoin firm’s US-domiciled outfit that launched last month, had a circulating supply of just $20 million.
Tether has expanded far beyond the straightforward business model that earned it the distinction of being the most profitable company in the world on a per-employee basis. It has diversified the assets that back its flagship, market-leading stablecoin, USDT. Between September 2024 and November 2025, the share of “high risk” assets such as gold and Bitcoin backing USDT rose from 17% to 24%, while the share of US treasury bills fell from 81% to 75%, according to S&P Global.
Tether has become one of the world’s largest holders of gold, rivalling countries and multinational banks, according to a recent report from Bloomberg. Last year, it became the third-largest shareholder in Adecoagro, Argentina’s largest producer of milk and rice, according to The Block.
But the company hasn’t just expanded the assets backing USDT. It has diversified the assets that back its flagship, market-leading stablecoin, USDT. It mines Bitcoin and has released software for developers of crypto wallets. It has an asset tokenisation business, Hadron, and a decentralised messaging app, Keet. Last year, Tether debuted a wellness app and announced that it had invested in humanoid robotics firm Generative Bionics.
It even submitted an offer to buy Italian football club Juventus, only to get its all-cash proposal rejected by the owner. Citing its myriad ventures, Hines called Tether “the most prolific tech company in the world right now.” But the changes haven’t been without controversy. In November, S&P Global downgraded Tether in its annual stability assessment, saying its reliance on high-risk reserves has left it vulnerable to a market downturn.
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