Tether’s XAUT Captures 60% of Market: Secures 140 Tons of Gold in Alpine Vaults

A major player in digital finance is quietly becoming one of the largest private gold holders on the planet.

As per a Bloomberg report, Tether, the company behind the $186 billion USDT stablecoin, has now accumulated about 140 metric tons of physical gold stored in high-security vaults inside a former nuclear bunker in the Swiss Alps. 

The disclosure came this week, offering a rare look into how the firm is reshaping its reserves.

The stash is worth an estimated $23 billion–$24billion at today’s prices. Gold is trading near record highs above $5,200 an ounce, and Tether is moving more of its balance sheet into hard assets instead of short-term debt.

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The firm bought more than 70 tons of gold in 2025 alone. It is now adding one to two tons each week. 

That pace puts USDT in the same league as mid-size central banks and some of the world’s biggest gold ETFs.

And it signals a clear shift: a stablecoin issuer building a reserve strategy that looks more like a global asset manager than a crypto company.

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Analysts say that kind of steady buying is large enough to influence global bullion flows. It may also help support gold prices during periods when investors move out of risk assets.

The shift marks the peak of a long effort inside Tether to “swap paper for metal.” 

Between 2021 and 2022, the company cut about $30Bn of commercial paper exposure to zero and replaced it with U.S. Treasury bills.

By the first quarter of 2025, Tether held roughly $98.5Bn in short-term US debt. That amounted to about 1.6% of all outstanding Treasury bills. 

Researchers estimate that this position alone trimmed US funding costs by nearly $15Bn a year.

USDT still dominates crypto trading. DefiLlama shows the stablecoin market at around $307.9Bn, and USDT makes up about 60.4% of that total. 

The token continues to trade close to its $1 peg, with daily volumes above $100Bn on major exchanges, according to market trackers.

And for now, Tether’s push into gold signals a broader shift in how one of crypto’s biggest players sees its role in global markets.

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Is Bitcoin Entering a Deeper Relative Downtrend as Gold Regains Momentum?

Leverage has seen only small day-to-day changes, suggesting traders are not repositioning in a hurry.

Bitcoin’s long-term trend against gold is also drawing fresh attention. A

Analyst Doctor Profit shared a chart showing the GOLD/BTC ratio turning higher after a sharp bounce from the 0.02 zone, the same level that marked Bitcoin’s 2021 peak and the 2025 top near $125,000. 

VERY IMPORTANT CHART

I have shared this $GOLD/ $BTC chart almost a year ago, pointing out that once 0.02 Bitcoin equal 1 gold ounce, it should be considered the top for BTC, and 0.11 BTC equal 1 gold ounce should be considered the bottom for BTC! This happened in 2021 during… pic.twitter.com/IZgOsj4K4l

— Doctor Profit (@DrProfitCrypto) January 29, 2026

The ratio is now climbing toward the mid-range, with momentum shifting toward gold as Bitcoin cools off its recent highs.

The chart also highlights the 0.11 zone, which lined up with Bitcoin’s 2022 cycle bottom. Doctor Profit says the pattern could repeat. 

“If 0.11 BTC equals one gold ounce again, the implied bottom sits between $50,000 and $60,000,” he said. Even with gold at $7,000, the downside still lands near $63,000.

The structure suggests a maturing downtrend for Bitcoin relative to gold. And for now, the analyst expects gold to keep outperforming Bitcoin in the months ahead.

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