Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, reduced its gold reserves by 3.4 metric tons in the third quarter, bringing the total to 142.8 tons by the end of September. This marks the first decline since the company began significantly accumulating gold for its reserves last year. Tether did not provide a reason for the reduction in its latest report.
The company reported a net operating profit of $4.5 billion for the first nine months of the year, including $1.5 billion in the third quarter. These profits primarily came from investments in US Treasury bills and reverse repurchase agreements. Tether’s reserves are predominantly composed of US Treasury Bills worth $123 billion, with gold accounting for just 10%, or $19 billion.
Meanwhile, Tether’s gold-backed token, XAUT, saw an increase in its gold holdings to 25.7 tons, up nearly 4 tons since the end of July. The XAUT token has approximately $3 billion in circulation, while USDT has about $180 billion in circulation.
Gold prices fell 3% on Friday to a one-year low of $3,883 per ounce, driven by a slump in tech shares and concerns over AI spending returns. Despite this drop, gold gained 4% in the third quarter.